Delusions of Granger
by Lonelyfairy
Summary: What Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger couldn't do, perhaps their children can.  The story about the reluctant and unlikely friendship of Scorpius Malfoy, Draco's son, and Rose Weasley, Hermione's daughter.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in the Harry Potter series. Bummer.

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Sixteen-year-old Rose Weasley raced down the abandoned corridor as fast as her skinny legs could carry her. She knew that running about the castle at this hour was entirely against the rules and if she was caught, she would most definitely get detention but at the moment, Rose didn't care. All she wanted right now was to get to a place where she knew that nobody would come to find her…and she knew exactly where that place was.

Through her tears, she almost blindly made her way to the second floor without being detected by any prefects and miraculously, she avoided being seen by the Hogwarts ghosts. If Peeves had even caught sight of her…

She shuddered. There wouldn't even be a person asleep in Hogwarts if Peeves had caught her. Rose decided not to dwell on that fact for too long. She couldn't get distracted. She was nearly there.

Finally, the old dirty door leading into the girls' bathroom came into view and relief flooded her as she slipped inside. Nobody was in sight—not even Moaning Myrtle. If Myrtle had been there, Rose didn't know what she would have done. She didn't exactly want to comfort a ghost that had massive issues with self confidence. Besides, from what she had heard, that ghost had had a crush on her uncle Harry when he went to Hogwarts practically in the Stone Age….and that was just gross.

Rose just didn't want to see anyone, whether dead or alive. For one thing, she's get into major trouble. For another, she didn't want anyone to see her in her current state. She was crying, practically bawling. And for what? A stupid dream. That was the reason she didn't want anyone to find her. She'd have to make up some kind of excuse for her behavior and Rose was a terrible liar.

But still…the dream felt so real. Rose tried to recollect the things that happened in her dream before she forgot.

She had been in the Quidditch field seemingly by herself at first in the dead of night, the full moon illuminating above her brightly. But something was a little off about the way the Quidditch field looked. At first Rose couldn't quite put her finger on it, but then as people suddenly appeared out of nowhere, filling every seat in every row of the stadium, Rose realized what was so different—instead of the stadium being filled with red Gryffindor, green Slytherin, yellow Hufflepuff, and blue Ravenclaw colors, there was just green everywhere. Snakes were hung on banners everywhere and every single person in the stands were from the Slytherin house. They all seemed to look down at Rose with sneers on their faces.

Suddenly, Rose could hear faint voices. The young Gryffindor girl couldn't quite place where it was coming from, but she could tell it wasn't from any of the Slytherins. It seemed to come from inside her head.

_You're nothing_, the voice whispered silkily. _You're nothing and you'll never amount to anything. You may as well give up._

Rose hated the way the voice sounded so sickeningly sweet and yet it was saying something so evil.

"Stop," Rose had said weakly. Her worst fear was being seen as nothing. As egotistical as it sounded, Rose knew that she had a lot of talent, a lot of potential. She could be virtually anything she wanted to be…but that voice…it was making her feel otherwise.

_You don't have any friends, so why go on? Do you honestly think that anyone would touch a filthy half-blood freak like you?_

"Tha—that's not true…I do have friends, I do!" Rose said, her voice much louder than before. Yeah, she had friends…if Albus Potter, her cousin, counted.

_Face it—you're better off dead._

"Wha—" the frightened girl began, but another voice, no, several hundred of voices began echoing off the Quidditch field walls. It sounded more like humming sounds as Rose realized that all the people in the stadium were saying something different, but all at the same time. The noise abruptively stopped and Rose was confused for a moment, but her face twisted in horror as she realized that everyone had their wands drawn and the tips of the wands were all glowing with an eerie green light.

They had all muttered curses. And Rose, being directly in the middle of the field, had nowhere to run. The lights suddenly shot out of the wands, coming at her at lightning speed. But to Rose, everything felt like slow motion. The lights hit Rose all at once, and the only thing Rose knew was pain…agonizing pain. And then…

She had awakened. Her face was pale and her bushy ginger hair was clinging to her face, which was dripping with a cold sweat. But she was awake…and she was nowhere near the Quidditch field.

It had all been a dream. But it freaked her out enough to dash down to the girls' bathroom.

As Rose sat huddled in a corner, hugging herself on the cold floor. Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to keep herself from making loud noises as she cried.

"It was a d-dream," she stammered to herself. "Nothing more, so get a hold of yourself before someone comes in and—"

"Thinks your completely mad?" a cold voice offered. Rose's head snapped up, her whole body trembling. A few feet away stood Scorpius Malfoy, his arms crossed across his chest.

Scorpius was every bit like his father…or from what Rose had heard about his father from her uncle Harry and her own mother and father. He even looked like Draco Malfoy. He had neat, white blond hair and pale skin, almost deathly pale. He was skinny and had a very pointy nose, which always seemed to be stuck in the air. Scorpius wore the signature Malfoy smirk, which Rose had seen Mr. Malfoy wearing at Platform 9 ¾ whenever she was picked up or dropped off by her parents. Rose would have scowled back and then laughed at how he was wearing his striped green pajamas, if she weren't so miserable. She had never seen Scorpius without his robes on. He actually looked like…a muggle boy.

"Malfoy," Rose whispered. She meant to sound harsh and she wanted to give him the dirtiest look she could, but she imagined that her freckled face was contorted with grief.

Scorpius seemed almost disappointed that Rose wasn't rising to the occasion, but he seemed to recover as he huffed impatiently.

"Weasley," he spat. "What could you possibly be doing down here in the middle of the night? Is this some kind of Weasley fetish? Hanging out with the toilets?"

"Ha ha," Rose said through her ground teeth. "I should be asking you the same thing."

Malfoy seemed to struggle with words for a moment but then scowled at Rose.

"That's none of _your_ business."

"You're right, it isn't. So if you came in here to do _your_ business, then go ahead. There are plenty of stalls."

Malfoy seemed to flush, but he kept his nose up in the air as if looking down at her would damage his dignity.

"You know what? I don't care what you're doing down here. Just get out now," he commanded heatedly. Rose wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and gaped at Malfoy open mouthed.

"_You_ get out. This is the girls' bathroom! Though, maybe you should stay, seeing as you look like one…"

"How dare you talk to me like that, you filthy little—"

Rose had had about enough of Malfoy's banter and his insults. She was in no mood to talk to him, let alone _any _Slytherin. Before he could even finish his sentence, Rose roared and jumped up. Malfoy actually flinched and stared at Rose with wide eyes.

"Weasley, what—"

Rage taking over her fear and sadness, Rose pushed Malfoy to the ground with all the force she could muster. Malfoy fell to the hard floor with a loud thump, landing on his backside rather painfully, by the look on his face. He sat there for a second, rubbing his butt sheepishly before looking up at Rose. Scorpius looked as if he were going to make a snide remark or retaliate, but he seemed to stop himself as he looked up at Rose. Rose was about to ask what the hell he was looking at when her ears turned bright red as she realized exactly what he _was_ looking at. Rose was wearing a silky white nightgown and her undergarments. She was certain that Scorpius could see right through her attire, and from the position he was in, Rose was certain he could see _up_ her gown.

Mortified, Rose found she couldn't move. There was something in Malfoy's eyes that she had never seen before. She didn't know what it was, and she didn't have time to figure it out because Scorpius had gotten to his feet shakily and took a hesitant step forward.

In her mind, Rose was telling herself to run away as fast as she could—this was not a position she wanted to be in. Rose tried to protest but she found that she was like a deer in headlights, unmoving and uncomprehending. Malfoy was moving in closer and closer, though rather slow, as if he couldn't quite believe he was having an out of body experience. Rose knew she was having the exact same feeling.

But Malfoy suddenly began moving faster and before Rose could stop him, his lips crashed down on Rose's lips…hard.

He was kissing her with such fervor, such passion, that Rose suddenly came back to life, as if she had several cups of pure sugar running through her blood. Her hands moved as if on their own accord and began running themselves through Malfoy's hair, which was actually very soft. She could feel Malfoy's hands running through her tangled excuse for hair as well, but his didn't linger in her hair for long. Rose felt his fingertips run up and down her arms and then he was grasping her legs.

The sixth year girl was about to draw back and question him when she realized that he had literally swept Rose off her feet and he was carrying her. Rose's legs instantly wrapped themselves around the back of his legs as he carried her backwards until Rose felt her back slam into a cold, brick wall. Malfoy's warm hands were wandering under her nightgown now and reaching up for Rose's bra. He was touching her roughly now and kissing her so hard that Rose could tell that she was going to be bruised in the morning. She could feel the evidence of his arousal against her trembling body. Sweat was gleaming on her skin as well as Malfoy's skin.

A soft clicking noise could be heard and it took a moment for Rose to realize that he had just unhinged her bra. As Malfoy's fingers explored Rose's breasts in a feverish daze, Rose gasped against Malfoy's lips and pulled back swiftly.

Malfoy looked half crazy at having something taken away so suddenly that he was speechless for a second. Then he gave Rose his trademark smirk.

"What, aren't you having fun?" He leaned in to kiss her again, but Rose pushed him back and ran for the door.

"WEASLEY!" Malfoy called after her. Whether there was anger in his voice or confusion, Rose didn't know, but she didn't want to stick around to find out.

She bolted out of the bathroom and stumbled up the moving flights of stairs to get to her dorm. What had she just done? She was Rose Weasley. She always did the right thing. She always got top marks in her class. She never mingled with the wrong sort of people. She had never done anything like _that_ in her whole life. And with a _Malfoy_, of all people!

Rose didn't even look up when she heard Peeve's voice.

_Little Weasley out for a run,_

_Why don't you stay and have some fun?!_

She didn't care what the ghost had to say. As eager as she was to get out of her room and be alone, all she wanted to do now was go back to her room and be with her roommates, even if they were asleep.

All she wanted to forget that this night ever happened. She only hoped that Malfoy wouldn't tell anyone…

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A/N: I haven't written a fan fiction piece since I was a sophomore in high school. And now I'm a sophomore in college, so please go easy on me. It's been four years. I have been writing since I was twelve, but when it comes to fan fiction, it's not the same as writing something that came entirely out of my own head. Anyway, I've been dying to do a piece on the new generation. So please read and review. I would very much appreciate it. Thanks a bunch:)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the characters in the Harry Potter series do not belong to me...which sucks buttocks.

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Scorpius Malfoy ran a hand through his hair impatiently as he sat in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The professor was droning on and on about how to produce a Patronus, but Scorpius merely stared down at the blank piece of parchment in front of him angrily. He hadn't been able to concentrate long enough to take a single note down, and it was all because of _her_.

Chewing on his quill distractedly, Scorpius couldn't help but think about the previous night.

He had taken shelter in the girls' bathroom last night. Not because he enjoyed hanging out in a haunted bathroom, but because it was the only place where he could be free. It was the one place where no Slytherins could bother him—where _nobody_ could bother him.

As long as Scorpius could remember, he had been judged by everyone that looked at him. He knew that he had a striking resemblance to his father, but the fact was, he was _not_ his father. Yes, his father had made a few mistakes in his life and sure, he had never been the nicest of people, but the only reason Draco Malfoy had been on You-Know-Who's side was because of his father and his mother. And even Scorpius's grandparents had wanted out at the end but they were too frightened to pull out of the evil side because they knew as well as anyone else that the Dark Lord could have killed them as well as their son Draco. The Draco Malfoy of the present was a calm, quiet man. He wasn't exactly the nicest man ever and he wasn't very good with emotions, but Scorpius knew that he was a good father and he wanted the best for Scorpius. Draco didn't want Scorpius to end up like him was when he was a child. Too bad nobody else seemed to see that—all they could see was Draco Malfoy's past.

But as Scorpius thought about his life, he knew that he was probably letting his father down. Because everyone judged him, he was literally an outcast. He never had any real friends his whole life. Sure, there were people he talked to, but he knew that secretly all the Slytherins looked down at Scorpius for being weak, like they thought his father and grandparents were. And nobody in all the other houses at Hogwarts had been very friendly to him, knowing about his family's history. The truth was, he just didn't belong anywhere.

At first, he had wanted to be a good person and make a good name for the Malfoy family. He had even aspired to be in Gryffindor. But something inside him had wanted to be sorted into Slytherin so he could be the 'nice' Slytherin boy. So he had convinced the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin. But being in Slytherin wasn't a walk in the park. People were mean, almost evil in Slytherin. When Scorpius had tried to be nice and make friends with them, they all seemed disgusted by him. And when he tried to talk to the people from the other houses, they looked at him like he was carrying some kind of infectious disease. Scorpius had been so hurt by not making any friends at Hogwarts the first few weeks that he decided to use his superb acting skills and be as tough as possible. That way, the people in the Slytherin house wouldn't look down at him and perhaps he could force the kids from the other houses to befriend him. It had all been an act at the beginning, but as his first year progressed, he got better and better at being cruel. By the time his second year at Hogwarts rolled around, he was so wrapped up in being evil that he realized that he couldn't stop.

He had lost the part of himself that he hadn't intended on losing.

Now, Scorpius realized that he didn't even know who he was anymore. That's why had taken to hiding in a girls' bathroom. As pathetic as it was, Scorpius felt that Moaning Myrtle's bathroom was the one place where nobody could come in and judge him. And although he didn't know who he was anymore, he felt that he could truly think in the solitude of the bathroom and try to figure out who he was, or at least who he could be.

He had been coming there successfully for about two years with nobody barging in to bother him, save for Myrtle. And even she didn't like to hang out in the bathroom often—there were prefects taking baths in the evening after all and ghosts could glide though walls, so that was an opportunity she couldn't miss.

But last night, Weasley had shown up.

_Stupid Weasley_, Scorpius thought bitterly, _thinks she's all that just because her father helped Harry Potter defeat You-Know-Who…_

Scorpius hated how she was judged by her father's past as well, but _she_ got praised for it.

The previous night had been a mistake and Scorpius knew it. He had a temporary lapse in judgment. He was overcome with anger that someone would come into _his_ private sanctuary and ruin Scorpius's brooding vibe. And he was shocked that Weasley had such a temper that she would literally push him to the ground. He had always made fun of her before, calling Weasley a know-it-all and insulting her bushy red hair, but never had she resorted to physical activity. She would either cast his insult off and ignore him or say something witty back. And the way she looked last night seemed to make all of Scorpius's problems dissolve. The way her cheeks were all flushed from crying, the way she looked so angry and vulnerable at the same time, the way her curves fit just right in that sexy nightgown…

The Slytherin boy jumped an inch in his seat as he thought about that. She was a half-blood freak…and he was a pure-blood. He shouldn't have been touching her. Besides, she meant nothing to him. Nothing at all.

It was just that kissing her seemed to make Scorpius feel more alive than he ever had before in his life…

"All right, class," the old professor called out cheerily. He motioned for everyone to stand up. "Let's all try to make a Patronus."

Scorpius rolled his eyes but obeyed the teacher and held out his wand.

"Expecto Patronum," Scorpius muttered unenthusiastically.

All that happened was a silvery mist shot out of his wand, but no animal of any kind was taking shape. Scorpius looked around and found that all his classmates were encountering the same problem. He glanced over at the Gryffindor side of the classroom.

It was a coincidence that the Slytherins were having a class with the Gryffindors, especially after the events of the previous night. Since this was the first class of the day, everything that had happened was still fresh in Scorpius's mind. And by the way that Weasley had made a point to avoid Scorpius at all costs made him believe that last night was on her mind too.

Weasley had her wand pointed out and as she muttered the Patronus spell, a silvery mist came out as well. She seemed frustrated. Usually, Weasley was the first to master any difficult spell. As must as Scorpius hated to admit it, Weasley was the smartest girl in his class. But Weasley also seemed distracted, and Scorpius had a feeling that he knew why…

"Come on," the professor said in such a jolly voice that Scorpius almost had the urge to spear the man's throat with his quill, "try harder! Remember to think of your happiest moment. If any of you were to encounter a Dementor, they would suck all the happiness out of you! Watch! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The old man managed to produce a Patronus with such ease that Scorpius was almost jealous. A small chinchilla of all things burst out of his wand and scampered around the room. Several Gryffindors giggled at the tiny chinchilla as it passed them and a number of Slytherins scowled in frustration.

Scorpius tried his best to think of his happiest moment, but he felt he came up short. He couldn't think of a moment when he was truly happy. Sure, he had been content his whole life, but happy?

He resorted to merely shouting, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" while thinking of random memories until he got it right.

The first memory he tried was his eighth birthday party. That was when he got his first broomstick. He was pretty excited about that…but his eighth birthday party also ended in disaster as his grandfather hexed a young boy who tried to get a piece of birthday cake before Scorpius did…

Nothing happened, so he moved onto another memory.

He remembered the time he got his acceptance letter into Hogwarts. That had been a pretty cool moment, one that young Scorpius had been anticipating for several years. He remembered that he couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts…but then the owl that delivered the letter bit Scorpius in the hand rather hard and he bled quite a bit…

Still, nothing happened. He tried yet another memory.

Scorpius thought about his last summer vacation.

Nothing.

He thought about Slytherin winning the house cup.

Nothing.

He even thought about purchasing his wand…

Nothing.

Angrily, Scorpius kept shouting the Patronus charm. This was getting frustrating and Scorpius was getting infuriated.

He glanced around and he knew that everyone was having the same problem. Even Weasley, who looked especially angry that she couldn't make a proper Patronus, was having difficulty.

Scorpius felt the sides of his mouth twitch. So Weasley was human after all. If last night hadn't proved that she wasn't human already…

Numerous audible gasps snapped Scorpius out of his thoughts and he whipped his head around to see what everyone was now gaping at. It took quite a few moments for Scorpius to realize that they were in fact staring at him…or more like the Patronus that he had subconsciously managed to produce.

A small silvery ferret was now bounding around the classroom happily. Scorpius was shocked and as he felt everyone's eyes on him, he knew that they were too. He did a quick Weasley check. She looked halfway impressed and halfway jealous. Scorpius smirked.

"Well done, Mr. Malfoy!" exclaimed the professor, clapping his hands together in bliss. "Extraordinary! What, may I ask, was the memory you chose?"

Scorpius had to think on his feet. He couldn't exactly say that he accidently thought about the time he was all over Weasley in a neglected girls' bathroom, snogging her senselessly.

"The first time I rode a broomstick, sir," was Scorpius's reply. He hoped he sounded convincing enough.

By the elated look on his professor's face, Scorpius knew that he had been. God, he wanted to give that professor a good steady kick in the balls…the old man honestly looked so jubilant that he could wet himself…

"Twenty points to Slytherin! Excellent work, Mr. Malfoy, excellent work!"

Although Scorpius knew that his fellow Slytherins hated this class as much as he did himself, they all gave him approving smirks. One Slytherin even clapped Scorpius on the back with his large calloused hand.

"No homework tonight! Class dismissed!" the professor called out in a sing-song voice.

As much as Scorpius was enjoying the attention, he bolted out of the classroom and headed straight for the boys' bathroom, where the normal boys tended to go. He ran to the nearest sink, turned the faucet and began splashing cold water onto his hot face. He wanted to get those bad thoughts out of his head…

She was a Weasley and he was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake!

He couldn't be thinking about her like that…even if she was really sexy…

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A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They really make my day. I don't know what I think about my introduction. I think it was a little long but I wanted to get my point across. I also know that Harry produced a Patronus when he was in his third year at Hogwarts, but Lupin had said that it was advanced magic so I thought I'd make the DADA class about the Patronus Charm. And yeah, I made Scorpius's Patronus a ferret in honor of Draco Malfoy. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Basically, all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling because she's a genius like that.

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Scorpius Malfoy is following me… 

That single thought occupied Rose's mind as she power walked down the crowded hallway, her books clutched tightly to her chest. As she squeezed through people and dodged paper wads that were being thrown in the air by immature first years, Rose couldn't help but look over her shoulder every couple of minutes.

Malfoy was following her a couple of feet away, but he was trying to make it less obvious that he was by stopping every time Rose turned her head and talking to a random person in the hall. He was doing a fairly decent job at it, but the fifth time Rose looked at him, Malfoy practically jumped up to an unsuspecting Hufflepuff first year. He must have been out of things to talk about because he started rambling rather loudly about how great his broomstick was. The poor Hufflepuff girl must have taken it the wrong way because her face turned bright red and she dashed away in the other direction, weeping hysterically.

If it hadn't been obvious to Rose that Malfoy was following her before, it would have been obvious to her then.

Rose looked back once more and she found that Malfoy had taken to hiding behind huge tapestries on the wall. If Rose wasn't so freaked out, she would have laughed out loud. First with the crazy pajamas, now with the really bad hiding spots…maybe Malfoy wasn't as big and tough and _smart_ as he made people think he was.

Although, maybe Rose was casting his abilities off too quickly. After all, he _did_ manage to make a very good and very _cute_ Patronus. A tinge of jealousy made Rose's cheeks flush a pink color. How did he manage to produce a Patronus before she did, Rose would never know. And what exactly was he thinking of, Rose wasn't entirely sure, but she was almost positive that his happy memory wasn't the first time he went flying on a broomstick. It just didn't seem like a strong enough memory…

Still…Rose knew exactly what memory she was trying her best to avoid during her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She was trying so hard to forget about what had happened the previous night. Rose had tried so hard, in fact, that she couldn't even concentrate on finding another memory. All Rose managed to do was confuse herself the entire class period. The most confusing thing of all was the feeling that Rose got whenever she did manage to let herself think about that night…a tiny part of her actually _liked_ making out with Scorpius Malfoy.

She knew that what she did was wrong and she would normally never throw herself at someone she hardly knew and hated, but how could something that was so _wrong_ feel so _right_?

A strong hand unexpectedly landed on Rose's shoulder and Rose instantly tensed. Subsequently, Rose grabbed her wand out of her pocket then spun around and held the wand up to her attacker's throat.

"KEEP AWAY FROM ME!" she roared, her heart racing.

"Okay…if that's how you really feel…," came the nervous reply of her cousin Albus Potter. His hands were held in the air in mock surrender and his green eyes were wide with surprise. Rose realized that there was dead silence all around her as everyone in the hall had swiveled about to stare at the cousins. Rose jerked her head around Albus's body just in time to see the bottom of somebody's robes disappear around a corner.

Malfoy had gotten away.

Rose frowned, then lowered her wand and shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she managed to croak. Albus gave her a small smile and chuckled.

"It's…okay." He guided his cousin away from the crowd, which began to disperse. Rose felt herself flush as her fellow students began to whisper amongst themselves. Albus put an arm around his cousin's shoulder and Rose couldn't help but feel much better. If there was one person in the world who made Rose feel like she belonged, it was Albus Potter.

He had come a long way since his first year at Hogwarts. He started out as an insecure kid, nervous about being sorted into Slytherin. But his confidence seemed to be boosted the moment the Sorting Hat placed him into Gryffindor. He was well liked by his peers and rather good at magic. Albus even got along with James Potter, his older brother who was now in his last year at Hogwarts. Albus looked just like his father with his messy jet black hair and almond shaped eyes. The boy even liked to pull a few pranks along with James, who was tall, gangly, and ginger haired. Rose felt grateful for a cousin and friend like Albus.

"What was that all about?" Albus asked playfully as they were out of hearing distance from the other students. Rose sighed.

"Nothing," she responded. "I guess I'm just a little—"

"Jumpy? High strung? Tense? On edge?" Albus supplied a little too eagerly for Rose's taste.

"Yeah," Rose said flatly, knowing there was no need to deny anything. Albus threw his head back and gave out a hearty laugh.

"You need to lighten up and stop studying so much. Let me guess…you were up studying late again, weren't you?"

"I guess you could say that…I did stay up late…studying many interesting things…"

_Like Scorpius Malfoy's body_, she thought. She instantly wished she could slap herself for even thinking of such things…even if it was true.

"Come on, let's go eat lunch," Albus said. "It'll take your mind off of things. Plus, I could go see if James is there. Did we tell you about the new prank that we're about to pull? It involves Filch and a few toilets—"

"Well, well, well," a cold voice scoffed up ahead. Rose knew instantly who it was before she even looked up but she made herself look at him anyway. "Look who it is," Malfoy continued. "Potter and his whore cousin Weasley."

Rose bit her lip. Know-it-all and Bush Head were normal names that Malfoy called Rose…but whore? She hoped that Albus didn't think anything of that statement.

Malfoy, who had three rather large boys backing him up, only crossed his arms as Albus reached for his wand.

"You take that back, Malfoy," Albus spat, his grip tightening on his wand so that his knuckles were nearly snow white.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Malfoy sneered.

"You think you're all high and mighty, don't you?" Albus snickered sarcastically. "But without your three body guards, you're nothing!"

"At least I earn everything I get!" Malfoy bellowed. "I don't have to rely on a good name! I earned my friends on my own! I got onto the Quidditch team on my own! I work hard for my grades! AND ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS SIT BACK AND LET EVERYTHING HAPPEN ON ITS OWN! Face it, Potter," Malfoy said, regaining his composure. "If your father wasn't famous, _you'd_ be nothing!"

Rose had to act quickly as Albus lost his cool and lunged for Malfoy. She grabbed Albus with her the hand that wasn't carrying the books.

Malfoy continued to laugh as he ran up to Rose and knocked the books right out of her hand. Rose was halfway grateful for the gesture because it gave her the opportunity to grab the back of Albus's robes with both her hands. But her gratitude turned to annoyance as Malfoy went on to throw her books across the floor. Albus, who had been known to occasionally be a hot head, began struggling furiously against Rose.

"Let me go!" he yelled. "I don't need a wand! I can take all of them on the muggle way—with my fists!"

"Albus, please! He's not worth it!" Rose pleaded.

"Is there a problem here?"

The group of enemies stopped what they were doing, but not before Malfoy accidentally managed to hit their headmistress, Professor McGonagall, square in the face. Malfoy's face turned ash white and Rose suppressed a giggle. Malfoy dropped the rest of the books onto the floor and Albus straightened up. Rose let go of him gingerly and watched as Malfoy's three henchmen dashed away. For three fat people, they were pretty fast.

"Potter, Weasley, Malfoy! What's the meaning of this?" McGonagall demanded, the wrinkles on her face more prominent as she yelled.

"Nothing, Headmistress," the trio said in unison.

"That's what I thought. Because if there was about to be a fight, I might have to give all three of you detention."

"Well, good thing there's nothing wrong then," Rose said, giving McGonagall her most innocent smile.

McGonagall actually smiled back. "Good thing. Now hurry off to the Great Hall. Lunch is halfway through."

The students nodded as McGonagall glided past them. Malfoy turned to Albus and Rose as she left.

"You were lucky this time. Even without my friends, I could have hexed you into oblivion."

Before Rose or Albus had time to respond, Malfoy stormed toward the Great Hall, muttering to himself in the process.

Rose breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Albus stood motionless, staring at Malfoy's retreating form before he sighed as well and glanced at Rose.

"I could have taken him, you know."

"I know," Rose said with a smile. "Let's go to the Gryffindor table before James starts to think you started the prank without him."

Albus hurriedly agreed and then handed Rose her books. They rushed to the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Rose sat across from James and Albus, who were busy talking in hushed voices about their plans. From Rose's spot, she could clearly see Malfoy who was facing her. Malfoy's large 'friends' were sitting looking away from her, laughing at something Malfoy was saying.

Rose glared at Malfoy and she was about to dig into her food when Malfoy suddenly stopped laughing with his friends and locked eyes with Rose. She felt her stomach drop at the intensity of his gaze. He raised his eyebrows at her then looked down at something in front of Rose.

At first, Rose thought he was pointedly staring at her breasts, but as he kept shifting his gaze from something in front of Rose, then back to her eyes, Rose realized that he wanted Rose to look at something. Rose glanced down at the items in front of her. There was her plate of food and her pile of books. She highly doubted that Malfoy wanted her to look at her food, so she shakily reached for her books, locking eyes with Malfoy in the process.

Malfoy nodded curtly then held up three fingers. He wanted her to look at the third book in her pile. Hesitantly, Rose dug through the pile and pulled out the third book. It was her Advanced Potions book. She looked back up at the Slytherin boy curiously.

He held out two hands in front of him, as if he were about to pray, then opened them slowly like a butterfly. Rose realized that he wanted her to open the book.

She instantly shook her head. Did he really think she was stupid? For all she knew, Malfoy could have cursed the book while he was throwing them. If she opened the book, perhaps she'd have a bad case of boils. But Malfoy nodded his head insistently.

Rolling her eyes, Rose decided to obey him. If she did come down with boils, she had two older cousins who could hex Malfoy's privates off.

A small piece of torn parchment fluttered out of the book and landed in Rose's lap. She jumped, thinking it was some kind of dark artifact. Her cousins looked up at her, frowning.

"You okay there?" asked James. He looked at her as if she was nitroglycerin and if he touched her, she would explode.

"Fine," Rose muttered in a high pitched voice. Albus turned to James.

"She's just high strung today."

James shrugged. "Typical." Then the two began conspiring again.

Rose waited until she was sure they wouldn't look up again before she picked up the spare piece of parchment. There was something scrawled across the paper in neat cursive handwriting. Her eyes skimmed the words and her blood instantly turned to ice.

_Meet me in the bathroom tonight, Weasley. Don't make me come after you._

She looked up again to see if Malfoy was serious, but he had returned to the conversation that he had been having before with his fellow Slytherins. Once again, they were laughing and jeering at people in the other houses. Rose glanced at her cousins then looked away again.

Going back to the bathroom would probably go against everything Gryffindor, but Rose couldn't help it. Curiosity had gotten the better of her. She only hoped that curiosity would kill the cat and not the inquisitive Gryffindor girl.

* * *

A/N: Okay, another day, another chapter. I'll try to get another chapter up soon, but I'm currently working on a story all my own as well. And I'm quite sorry about the disabled anonymous reviews. I do very much appreciate everyone's input, but the reason I deleted all my other stories was because I had like, a fan fiction stalker who apparently knew my name and he or she would leave nasty messages on the review board that had nothing to do with my stories. The stalker also sent me private messages that were just not cool. But now that I've disabled the anonymous reviews and blocked this person's official penname, I think the problem is solved. Wow, now I'm rambling, so I'm going to go. But thanks to everyone who has reviewed! 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Right, you know the drill. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

* * *

Midnight had come more quickly than Scorpius had anticipated. The impatient blond boy had been pacing the second floor girls' bathroom floor for nearly two hours now, and yet there was no sign of that Weasley girl. He had decided at the beginning of the night that if she didn't show up by one o'clock, he would go searching for her.

And Scorpius knew that Weasley had better prepare herself for hell if he was _forced _to look for her.

Part of Scorpius didn't understand why he had asked her to come. He hated her…right? What would he even _say_ to her if she did come? Worse yet, what would he say to her if she _didn't_ come? He would really have to give her trouble then…_nobody_ snubbed a Malfoy.

Nobody.

Through the silence, there was a clatter of some sort and Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks, looking up with caution. The door had opened. He instinctively reached for his wand, knowing that someone else could have come in beside Weasley. But as a messy pile of red hair was in plain sight, Scorpius lowered his wand, almost grateful that she had shown up. At least now he wouldn't have to save his pride by looking for her.

"Weasley," he muttered venomously. Scorpius glanced over Weasley quickly before turning away and sticking his nose up in the air.

The girl had worn robes tonight and they were buttoned up all the way to the top. Scorpius flushed and suddenly felt slightly stupid. He had worn his pajamas and now he wished he hadn't. Weasley also brought a wand. She looked scared, but she was going to great extremes to hide her discomfort by crossing her arms and trying to scowl. He couldn't help but notice that scowling didn't suit a Weasley.

"Malfoy," she spat back, though rather unsteadily.

Scorpius smirked.

So he had intimidated her.

Good.

"What the hell took you so long?" he asked, his voice threateningly low.

"Well excuse me if I was hesitant in coming to meet the person I hate the most," she huffed.

"But you came anyway," Scorpius said. His smirk broadened and Weasley rolled her eyes.

"Well—I—you said…,"she stammered weakly. She recovered quickly. "I very well couldn't have had you coming after me, could I? I don't want my reputation to be ruined by being seen with a—a Slytherin."

"Oh heaven forbid," Scorpius replied sarcastically. He shifted his gaze to Weasley again and walked around her in a circle, observing her pointedly. Weasley frowned and watched him in discomfort.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped. "Better yet, what do you _want_ Malfoy?"

Scorpius gave an exaggerated sigh. "I'm just looking at you, Weasley. I'm trying to figure out why I did what I did the other night."

He watched in amusement as Weasley looked befuddled by his blunt statement.

"What?" she asked slowly.

"You heard me." Scorpius abruptly grabbed her arm and made her do a full circle spin against her will. She jerked her arm back, more confused than ever.

"What?" she demanded again.

"Well, it can't be your looks," he said, thinking out loud on purpose. "I mean, look at you…you're scrawny and you've got freckles in every nook and cranny. Not to mention the fact that your hair is like a cave woman's hair…" He trailed off and stopped circling her. "Nope…it's got to be a spell. You've obviously put some kind of a dark curse on me. And now I want you to take it back…or else," he added, thrusting his wand into the air.

Weasley stood stationary, her mouth open in shock. She quickly growled and thrust out her wand as well.

"I've done no such thing! I've put no spell on you let alone any dark curses! Dark magic…as if! I would never use that on anyone! But _you'd_ know all about dark magic, wouldn't you? You and your father are—"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Scorpius unexpectedly snarled. He pounced forward and grabbed Weasley's wand right out of her shaking hand. The angry boy threw both his wand and her wand across the deserted bathroom. They landed helplessly clear on the other side with hollow clanking sounds.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he bellowed again, grabbing her wrists with all his might and shoving her up against the nearest wall. He actually took pleasure in seeing her writhe in pain and whimper in fear. "YOU KNOW _NOTHING_ ABOUT ME OR MY FATHER! YOU WEASLEYS THINK YOU'RE SO GREAT BECAUSE YOU HELPED DEFEAT THE GREATEST DARK WIZARD THERE WAS BUT YOU'RE PATHETIC! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A DIRTY LITTLE HALF—"

"_Don't_!" she shrieked shrilly, yanking her hands back and pushing him away. "DON'T YOU _EVER_ BELITTLE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S NOTHING! YOU'RE. THE. ONE. WHO'S. DIRTY!"

Weasley was all but crying now in her anger and she was slapping Scorpius as hard as she could with each sentence she screamed. Scorpius staggered back, his cheeks pulsing in white hot pain.

"DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!" she screamed again.

"DON'T _YOU_ JUDGE _ME_!" Scorpius yelled back. He shoved the girl back angrily. "You don't know what it's like having a bad family name! My father is a changed man! And you don't know what it's like having everyone look down at you because of something your family has done…nobody wants to be with someone with a family like that…"

He was yelling at the start of his speech, but now his throat was scratchy and he found that he was now practically whispering the last part of his speech. The worse thing was that he realized that he _still_ couldn't admit out loud what he had figured out a long time ago…

Scorpius had become everything he had come to hate.

The boy became conscious of the fact that like Weasley, he was shaking too. He could feel the beginning of tears prick his eyes but he forced them back and clenched his jaw, a method he always used when he was about to cry.

Because the Malfoy family never cried.

He knew his face must have been red from the effort of remaining calm because Weasley was looking at him strangely. She was crying silently now, but the tears were falling freely down her pink cheeks.

"I hate being judged by my family too," she said quietly. "But at the same time…I know it's the only way people would look at me."

Scorpius's brow rose at that statement. He wasn't expecting _that_.

"I know that I'm a know-it-all…and I try not to be but I just...love to learn. And I know that my hair's a wreck but it's untamable. Trust me—I've tried to tame it. But the sad thing is that all people look at when they see me is my hair and my brains, nothing else. But life seemed to throw me a bone when I came to the realization that my parents and my uncle were famous. You're right...I do have it easy and I'm glad that they're famous because nobody would be my friend if they weren't. Still," she added softly, "it'd be nice to know that someone would be my friend just because…I'm me."

Weasley looked like she was having a wide range of conflicting emotions in her head right now. Scorpius knew that she probably didn't want to admit that to him of all people, but she did.

So _there_ was that legendary Gryffindor bravery…

Scorpius just couldn't believe that she was feeling the same way he was. For the first time since he arrived at Hogwarts, he felt like there was someone who actually understood him.

Not that he was going to tell her that, but still.

"Weasley," he said softly, taking a step forward. He stopped, afraid to touch her. "I didn't—I never—I—"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Weasley said with the smallest of smiles. And before Scorpius knew what was happening, she had closed the gap between them and before Scorpius could comprehend what was happening, Weasley had placed her soft, warm lips on top of his.

Unlike the kiss he had initiated only a day ago, this kiss was gentle and almost kind. Scorpius had never felt anything quite like it.

She continued to kiss him tenderly, her hands stroking his cheeks calmly. Scorpius couldn't help it—he began kissing her back with as much meekness as Weasley was kissing him with.

The girl was still crying, which made the kiss slightly wet, so Scorpius drew back and brushed her tears away with the back of his thumb. Weasley smiled at the gesture then touched his arms lightly. Scorpius actually returned a genuine smile and this time he closed the gap and began kissing her temperately.

Unlike last time, he wasn't overcome with lust or want. Sure, Weasley was sexy, he even rather liked her hair, but he was so wrapped up in this feeling of warm belonging, that he almost preferred this to the wild kissing of before.

That wasn't to say that he wouldn't totally do the crazy passionate kissing next time. _If _there was a next time…

A loud bang brought the peculiar couple apart as they both cringed at the sudden outburst. Scorpius could make out someone muttering something.

"In here, Mrs. Norris…I heard noises in here. Those nasty kids are probably rigging another toilet…"

"Sweet Merlin," Weasley whispered hastily to Malfoy. "It's Filch! What are we going to—"

Scorpius clamped his hand down over her mouth to prevent them from being heard then dragged her to nearby stall. He forced her to stand on the toilet as he closed the door silently. Scorpius jumped onto the toilet as well, but not before his foot accidentally slipped into the toilet water.

Weasley snorted loudly and Scorpius threw his hand over her mouth once again after throwing her a deadly glare.

Scorpius could hear Filch's heavy footsteps drag across the floor uncomfortably close to them.

He was about to let go of Weasley when a sharp pain suddenly shot through his hand. Scorpius looked down and he realized that Weasley had her jaw fastened onto his hand. He tugged his hand back and gaped at Weasley.

_You BIT me! _he mouthed at her.

Weasley gave him an innocent smile and shrugged. Scorpius made a mental note never to cover her mouth again.

"What did you find, Mrs. Norris?" Filch inquired out of the blue. To Scorpius's relief, the footsteps faded away, indicating that he was moving to the other side of the bathroom. But his relief turned into dread as Mrs. Norris meowed loudly and Filch muttered, "Now whose wands could those be?"

Scorpius visibly paled and he glanced at Weasley who had also blanched.

Clanking sounds echoing off the walls alerted Scorpius that Filch had indeed picked up their wands. Malfoy knew that the only reason that Filch was patrolling the corridor was because Weasley's idiotic excuse of cousins had followed Filch around earlier today until he went into a bathroom to do his thing. Then they hexed the toilet he was sitting on to explode as he tried to flush it.

Consequently, two whole corridors had been flooded and several classes had been cancelled for the rest of the day. Both Potter boys had been given a week's worth of detention but now they were even more popular than ever. Even Scorpius had to admit, it was pretty funny. He hated Filch and his feline girlfriend.

"Well," persisted Filch, "let's go to the Head Mistress and see what she thinks about this."

The footsteps had begun again and Scorpius was inwardly groaning. That man had his _wand_. Not only his wand but he had Weasley's wand as well. The headmistress was going to know that they had been together and soon the word would spread around the school…

Scorpius just wasn't ready for that yet.

"Come on, Mrs. Norris, I'm sure she'll love—"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

The scream came out of nowhere, but it was so loud and sudden that both Scorpius and Weasley clung to each other in a tight hug in order to keep from falling off the toilet. Scorpius had to bit back a sarcastic remark as Weasley's fingernails were digging through his pajamas into his flesh.

"What the devil is this all about, girl!?" shouted Filch angrily, dropping the wands to the floor with a more clinking sounds. Scorpius looked up and he could see that Moaning Myrtle was flying about the ceiling, in tears.

"Peeves called me ugly and now he's setting off fireworks in the fifth floor corridor!" Moaning Myrtle sobbed.

"WHAT!?" roared Filch. "Show me, girl!"

Scorpius watched as Myrtle's ghostly figure disappeared and Filch's footsteps faded away until he had closed the bathroom door. The couple waited a few more minutes until Weasley tiptoed out of the stall. Scorpius released his foot from the toilet and climbed out after her.

To both of their relief, the wands were lying on the floor only a few feet away. Scorpius quickly retrieved both and handed Weasley her wand. She murmured a hasty thank you.

For a few awkward seconds, they stood there, unable to say anything. But as Weasley opened her mouth to say something, Scorpius cut her off with another gentle kiss. Weasley seemed to be petrified for a moment, but quickly kissed him back. Just as Weasley was getting more and more passionate with him, Scorpius drew back and smirked down at her.

He'd leave her with that, wanting more…until next time. There _had_ to be a next time.

With that, he turned on his heel and rushed out of the bathroom, abandoning the confused red-head.

* * *

A/N: I was seriously going to take a break to work on my story and wait until tomorrow to update, but to tell you the truth, this actually kept me up all night. I tossed and turned until I realized that I had to update today. So here you go. A BIG thank you to everyone who has been reviewing! You guys are pretty awesome! I have plans for this story...big plans. I just have to organize them. So I'll try to update ASAP! Everyone have a great day!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, it seems that none of these characters belong to me. J.K. Rowling has the honor of keeping them to herself.

* * *

Thunder rolled in the distance and lighting flashed across the gray sky as Rose Weasley ran away from the Herbology Greenhouses, trying her best not to get soaked in the heavy rain that fell from the heavens. She wished that she had brought her wand so she could cast herself a shielding charm from the rain—Rose even thought that an umbrella would be nice, no matter how ridiculous she would look carrying one in a school for witches and wizards. But for the past few days, Rose's head seemed to be in the clouds. She couldn't concentrate and all she could do now was think about and day dream about Malfoy.

Sure, they weren't the best of friends and yeah, all they did was kiss in a girls' bathroom which was definitely not the most romantic of places, but he was still on her mind all the time. They actually seemed to have some kind of unspoken bond.

So as Rose was getting soaking wet in the rain, she silently cursed Malfoy for distracting her.

She hadn't seen him all day. It wasn't like she had been trying to avoid him this time, because last night had actually been rather sweet. But she simply didn't have any classes with the Slytherins today. And as much as she had enjoyed their time together, she wasn't about to make an announcement to her closest friends, telling them that she was currently falling head over heals for their worst enemy, Scorpius Malfoy. Still, it would have been nice to see him, even if seeing each other would release that always awkward morning after vibe.

Actually, it was more like, the morning after the morning after vibe.

Rose huffed. Being in a relationship with Malfoy was just difficult.

The confused teenager was about to dart up the stairs to the entrance of Hogwarts, when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

The Quidditch Pitch.

She could clearly make out students flying high in the air on their broomsticks, their robes swishing around them in the whistling wind. Hints of green could be seen at the bottom of their robes. The Slytherin team was practicing.

Like his father before him, Malfoy had made the team Seeker. And like Harry Potter, Albus Potter had become the Gryffindor's team Seeker. James Potter had managed to become a Gryffindor Beater. So this was another reason for the Malfoy and the Potter boys to hate each other even more. It was also a well known fact that tomorrow was a big Quidditch match—Gryffindor against Slytherin. Although Rose knew that she was going to be rooting for her cousins, she didn't see the harm in sneaking over to the Quidditch Pitch to see…the strategic techniques of the other team.

Rose swiftly bounded across yet another field, getting even wetter in the process. As soon as she reached the Quidditch Pitch, she stood back in the shadows of the entrance, watching.

It looked like the official Slytherin team was playing against a group of seven regular Slytherins. The beaters were high in the air, swatting furiously at the Bludgers, and the Chasers were each passing the Quaffle to one another, trying to throw them through the goal hoops. The Keepers were doing an excellent job at blocking the Quaffles from coming inside. Rose noticed though, that despite the rain, the teams were doing an excellent job at doing their assigned tasks, but the Slytherins were much more eager to hurt each other than the other teams in Hogwarts. It seemed that each team member had at least two cuts and several bruises. Some blood had even been shed and the blood was mixing with the rainwater in a nasty combination. Even Malfoy had a few cuts, and he was the Seeker—his job was the least violent.

Malfoy. Rose looked up at him with growing concern. She wished he would get down from such a high height. There was lightning in the sky, for Merlin's sake! He could get struck…

But Rose forgot all about that as she saw an impish smirk grace his face as he dove as fast and as hard as he could. The other team's Seeker, who had obviously been oblivious to the location of the Snitch, followed suit, flying neck-in-neck with Malfoy. Malfoy was nearing to a dangerously close level with the ground and she knew that if that boy didn't get the snitch soon, he would hit the ground and—and—

Rose didn't want to think about that.

Her fear kept increasing as he got closer and closer to the ground. The other Seeker looked determined to get it first and the dive had essentially become a game of chicken. Just as Malfoy was just inches from the ground, he pulled up sharply. The other Seeker, who looked up at Malfoy in shock, managed to smack his broomstick into the muddy ground and was sent spiraling through the air until he landed several feet away, unmoving.

But Malfoy had shot up into the air with as much speed as a firework—he had tricked the other boy. The Snitch wasn't down toward the ground, it was obviously up above.

Within seconds, Malfoy had caught the Snitch and he was now hovering over the other players, smirking with pride. A collective cheer could be heard from the winning team and the other Slytherins began grumbling and landed quickly, heading for the exit.

Rose bit her lip. They were coming towards her. She tried to move, but fear had gripped her so tightly, her legs felt glued to the spot. Now the losing Slytherins had caught sight of her. They were looking at her with interest twinkling in their eyes. Now that they had seen her, Rose knew she couldn't run. The field between the Quidditch Pitch and Hogwarts castle was rather large—someone could hex her before she had even run twenty feet.

Trembling, Rose braced herself as a rather tall, bulky Slytherin boy grasped Rose by the back of her robes and lifted her up four feet with ease.

"What are you doing here, half-blood filth?" he literally spat, his saliva launching itself onto Rose's pale face.

"I think she's spying," an unattractive Slytherin girl sneered. The other Slytherins muttered in agreement.

"Spying, eh?" asked the big boy who had a hold of Rose. "They knew that those lousy Gryffindors couldn't beat us by themselves so they sent a spy to watch us!"

"No, no!" Rose protested. "That wasn't what I was doing…"

"Then what were you doing?" the ugly Slytherin demanded.

"I was waiting for someone." Rose hadn't meant to blurt that out but now that the truth was out, she couldn't take it back. By now, the official Slytherin team had come down to the ground and had taken their places behind the losing team, curiosity apparent on their faces. Malfoy seemed relatively calm, but as Rose quickly glanced at him, she could see something behind his icy stare, there was something else…fear, perhaps?

"What's going on?" asked the Slytherin's Quidditch captain asked casually.

"The Gryffindor team sent Weasley—literally a little _weasel--to_ spy on us! But she insists that she was waiting for someone!" Rose's assailant growled. "So she's going to tell us _who _that person is before I blast her into last year!"

Rose took a shaky breath. She couldn't tell him the truth, she just couldn't. Her brain's wheels began turning furiously as she thought of a lie that would sound convincing enough. But she knew she was a terrible liar.

"I—I was waiting…for…"

"Us," supplied a deep voice from behind.

The large boy swiveled Rose's body around and everyone else had drawn their attention to the Gryffindor team, all of whom stood behind the Slytherin team with their arms crossed. The voice had belonged to Frank Longbottom II, Professor Longbottom's son and captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

He was the same age as James was, and in his last year at Hogwarts. Frank had neat black hair, perfect bronzed skin, and he was easily the cutest boy in Hogwarts. He completed the three requirements that girls typically looked for in appearances—tall, dark, and handsome. And he was intelligent and very kind, which put the icing on the cake. Rose was suddenly grateful for some familiar faces. Her cousins were in the group of Gryffindors as well.

"She was obviously waiting for us," Frank said again. "We have the pitch now, so if you wouldn't mind…"

But the Slytherins wouldn't be moved.

"Then what was she doing blatantly watching us," piped up another Slytherin.

"Well," James said suddenly, "she was probably hypnotized by how horrible you guys looked. All of you know that Gryffindor is going to win anyway…"

"How _dare_ you," growled the Slytherin captain, diving forward.

Soon James Potter and the Slytherin captain were rolling around on the grimy ground, fighting not with wands but with fists. Most of the Slytherins, even Malfoy, were provoking the fight by cheering for their captain. Some Gryffindors were cheering for James, but Frank and Albus were trying their best to separate the two.

"Geroff! Geroff!" James kept yelling. "He's not so tough!"

Evidently, hotheadedness ran in the Potter family.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!"

All heads, except James and the Slytherin captain, turned toward Professor Longbottom, who was rushing from the Herbology Greenhouses to the group of opposing teams. Professor Longbottom whipped his wand out and whispered a spell under his breath. Instantly, James and the captain were blasted apart. They slid several feet away from each other, each breathing hard with rage.

"What's going on?" he insisted again as soon as he was in between James and his opponent.

"This Gryffindor brat was spying!" snarled a random boy, pointing at Rose.

Professor Longbottom gazed at Rose composedly then shifted his gaze to the huge boy holding her up.

"Please put Ms. Weasley down." That was all Professor Longbottom had to say. Usually, he was relatively nice and calm, but if provoked, he had been known to lose it and give out detentions. And Professor Longbottom's detentions were rumored to be considerably strenuous.

The angry boy reluctantly agreed and Rose fell to the dirty ground. With the air knocked out of her, she felt two pairs of hands lift her up. One pair belonging to Albus, and one pair belonging to Frank. Rose couldn't help but blush—the way Frank smiled at Rose made her go weak at the knees.

"Are you all right?" he asked kindheartedly.

Rose plastered on a mushy smile. "I'm fine," she said softly, reveling in the fact that he had one of his strong arms around her shoulders now. "Thank you," she practically giggled at Frank.

"You're welcome," Albus muttered dejectedly.

"I'd hate to say that the Quidditch match was cancelled on account of two boys who didn't know how to control their testosterone levels…how about you lot?" the professor inquired.

Everyone unwillingly sounded their agreement. Rose found she couldn't say much of anything, as her mouth seemed to have gone dry with Frank's arms around her. She looked over at the Slytherins, who were seething at Professor Longbottom. Malfoy looked furious as well, but he wasn't looking at the professor. He was looking from Rose to Frank with disgust.

Rose grimaced guiltily.

"Right then…Slytherins, please go to the castle before you catch a cold. And Gryffindors, start practicing and then come inside before you get sick as well," the professor said. He stuck around to watch the Slytherins and Gryffindors depart.

Rose stood in her spot, watching them leave as well. She waved at Albus, James, and Frank then gazed swiftly at the retreating Slytherins. Malfoy seemed to be walking slower than the others—he was hanging back on purpose. He looked over his shoulder, deliberately locking his eyes with Rose before turning away again. Rose slumped in her spot.

"Rose?"

Rose jumped at her name and she realized that Professor Longbottom had been watching her. She saw the professor look at Malfoy's figure, disappearing in the distance. He glanced back at Rose.

He knew. Rose looked to the side, determined not to make eye contact with her professor and family friend.

The professor stood on his spot for a second then sighed.

"I won't tell," he said bluntly. Rose's head snapped up, the corners of her mouth playing at a smile. "Just…be careful," he added slowly.

Rose nodded almost as if in a daze. The professor smiled at her.

"Now go inside or else we'll have to send you to the Hospital Wing because you got sick in this rain."

With that said, he turned on his heel and walked away nonchalantly. Rose lingered for a moment before running toward the castle.

* * *

Rose opened the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom cautiously, peering inside to the left and to the right before slinking inside silently. She knew that Malfoy hadn't sent her a note telling her to meet him here and she wasn't in such distress that she needed a place to cry privately in the middle of the night.

She honestly just wanted to see him. Silently, she prayed that he was here so she could talk to him.

It didn't take long for her find him. He was sitting in the furthest corner of the bathroom, hugging his knees. Malfoy didn't see her at first but as Rose accidentally stepped on a loose piece of tile, his head jerked up. A scowl suddenly graced his previously blank face.

"Weasley," he barked at her. Rose flinched. After last night, she wasn't expecting that. "What are you doing here?" he asked venomously.

Rose fiddled with her hands. She was actually quite nervous.

"I came to find you," she replied honestly.

Malfoy's expression softened slightly. "Well, you found me."

Rose nodded awkwardly. "So it would seem."

There was a pregnant silence. Rose wished she knew what to say, but what was there to say? This whole situation was just…weird.

She decided that maybe she should just shut up for once and let Malfoy talk to her when he felt like it so she sauntered over to the corner and took at seat next to him. Rose was sitting so close to him, she could feel the warmth from his body. Hesitantly, she put a hand on his thigh.

Malfoy's body drastically tensed. He stuck his nose in the air.

"I suppose you're going to the game tomorrow then?" he questioned snappily. Rose shrugged.

"Yes." She couldn't help but smile. "I'm on Gryffindor after all."

"Right," Malfoy said curtly. "And I suppose you're going to cheer for your stupid Gryffindor friends and your moronic cousins and—and Frank Longbottom."

By the way he twisted Frank's name, Rose knew what was going on. He was simply jealous. Rose knew she shouldn't feel happy about that, but she could feel herself become quite excited about that fact—that meant that Malfoy at least felt _something_ for her…

Rose opened her mouth to reply, but Malfoy cut her off. "I don't see what's so great about him. I mean, he's not good looking or anything and it's not like he's got any brains. His I.Q. must be lower than his shoe size."

Knowing full well that this was all a lie, Rose took her hands off of his thigh and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, well, maybe I will cheer for him."

"Fine," Malfoy spat.

"Fine," Rose spat back.

Silence again.

"I'm could beat them all with one hand tied behind my back anyway," Malfoy continued. "Your cousin is a poor excuse for a seeker. He's practically blind."

Rose almost defended her cousin's name but decided against it. Instead, she gently touched Malfoy's arm.

"You were very good today." She hoped that kind words would get him to calm down.

Malfoy twisted his body so he was looking straight at Rose.

"So you _were_ watching!"

"Obviously," Rose muttered.

Malfoy struggled with himself for a second. "They could have hurt you if those idiotic friends of yours hadn't shown up, you know."

Rose didn't even try to say that her friends weren't idiotic and she didn't bring up the fact that Malfoy could have interfered if he had the guts to. "I know," she responded weakly.

"Then why—"

"It was worth it," Rose said simply. "You'll do great at the match too. It's going to be fun cheering for my favorite Slytherin tomorrow."

Malfoy raised his brow questioningly. Rose rolled her eyes.

"_You_, Malfoy."

At this confession, Malfoy actually _grinned_ at Rose, his usually cold eyes now warm and twinkling. He nearly jumped on top of Rose, covering her lips with his passionately.

Rose didn't protest and instantly she was kissing him back with as much enthusiasm as he was. She found herself lost in the passion of the moment and soon, the night was lost in a blur of excitement and lust.

* * *

A/N: Right, another chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter took me a long time to write. Plus, I have to focus extra hard since I'm working on another story with totally opposite characters. I confuse myself. Anyway, I figured that Neville had a son and since Harry had a fetish for naming his children after dead people, I thought Neville would name his son after his father, who is kinda dead. I know he's still alive, he's just not all there. And I didn't know if there was such a thing as a shielding charm, but oh well. The next chapter will have more Scorpius/Rose...action. I was honestly intending on this chapter to be longer with the actual Quidditch match in it, but I decided to break it up. I know that when I read fan fiction, I get distracted myself if the chapter is way too long. Okay, enough about me...enjoy! 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all these characters!:)

* * *

Scorpius woke up to the sounds of the rain splashing roughly against the roof and the boy jolted up in bed when he felt the intense rumble of the thunder. Darkness overwhelmed his bedroom, as it was still quite early in the morning. A small smile worked its way into the boy's features when he recalled that he had only just gotten to bed a few hours earlier.

That Weasley girl may not have put an evil curse on him, but she still had him under her spell…

Quickly, Scorpius wiped the smile off his face and gazed around the dark room groggily. He hoped that he hadn't disturbed his roommates' sleep when he had snuck in earlier. If they started to question him about where he had been, sure Scorpius could have made up a convincing lie, but if they saw him sneak in over and over again, they would eventually start to get suspicious.

He had three roommates—Michael Baddock, and the Goyle twins, Henry and Richard. Michael was tall, portly, and had a mop of brown hair. He was probably the meanest of the roommates. Henry and Richard were both squat, dog-like boys with a bowl cut of black hair. They were mean as well, but they more or less followed Michael's command. They were the three boys that had accompanied Scorpius the other day in the hall when he had provoked Albus Potter into fighting and thrown Weasley's books everywhere. Michael, Henry, and Richard had run out on Scorpius almost immediately after Professor McGonagall had shown up.

Scorpius knew that they weren't cowardly—they had done things to other students that would make even his grandfather's hair stand on end—but they just didn't like to get caught. And because they kept to themselves, except when picking on other students, the teachers thought they were stupid and didn't even bother giving them detentions. This gave the three fat boys the opportunity to sneak around everywhere without the teachers becoming suspicious of what they were doing. The teachers naturally thought that perhaps the boys had lost their way to the bathroom if they did happen to catch them wandering around.

Luckily, Scorpius didn't seem to have disturbed any of them. They were all snoring as loudly as they had been when he had slithered into the room before. Scorpius relaxed against his soft pillow and glanced out the window. It looked like a miserable day to have a Quidditch match, but after yesterday's practice, Scorpius felt confident that he could beat those Gryffindor slime balls.

But as soon as he felt that confidence, a smidge of fear suddenly filled his stomach. The Weasley girl had come to see _him_ play…if he didn't win today, what would she think of him? Would he still be her favorite Slytherin?

He just knew that he _had_ to win.

He would win, he assured himself. And after he won, she would have to be impressed with him.

With that thought in mind, he crawled out of bed and decided to get an extra early start on the day. He had to get himself pumped for the game.

* * *

The morning seemed to go by relatively fast. Scorpius felt like he was in a daze as the morning flashed before his eyes.

He had seen Weasley as he was making his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, even though Scorpius wasn't really in the mood to eat anything. Weasley was walking with her two cousins and to his disgust, Frank was trailing behind the group, talking loudly about Quidditch to another Gryffindor boy. For once, Scorpius didn't want a confrontation with the group, but as James and Albus spotted Scorpius, it couldn't have been avoided.

"Malfoy," James snapped at Scorpius crossing his arms. Albus followed suit. Frank and his friend had already made their way into the Great Hall and Weasley stood behind the boys, looking worried.

"Ready for the game today?" Albus asked with scowl on his face. Scorpius found that he couldn't even really scowl back.

"Born ready, Potter," he said briskly. He nodded his head toward the red headed girl behind them. "Weasley," he addressed then he hurried into the Great Hall.

He could hear the two Gryffindor boys question why he hadn't instigated a fight, but before he had left them, he had caught sight of that small smile Weasley always seemed to have on her face when something unexpected happened.

Breakfast had consisted of his three large friends stuffing their faces and making snide remarks about the people in the other houses. Usually, they poked fun at the Hufflepuffs, but today, they were picking on the Gryffindors, in honor of the game.

"The _gallant _Gryffindors…whatever," Michael Braddock had begun coldly. "They think they're so great…but we've got the best Seeker ever on _our_ team."

"Yeah," Henry Goyle had piped up, spraying pieces of bread from his open mouth, "they don't stand a chance!"

Richard snorted. "Look at those idiots…James Potter and his tag-along brother Albus. Albus probably couldn't tell the difference between the Snitch and his own balls…if he had any."

"It's the Weasley blood in them," Michael said with a cruel smile. "Potter's blood made them all _noble_ but the Weasley blood made them idiotic!"

"I dunno," Henry smirked, "how about that Rose girl? She's supposed to be smart."

"It's a first in the Weasley line," Michael said, "but it's true. And she's not all that bad looking…"

Scorpius's hand tightened around the fork he was holding and he clenched his jaw. He suddenly had the urge to stab Michael as he watched her observe Weasley from across the Great Hall, his head obviously filled with dirty thoughts.

"Leave her alone!" Scorpius suddenly yelled through ground teeth.

Michael, Henry, and Richard looked at Scorpius as if he had grown a second head. Scorpius recaptured his snobby, Slytherin attitude quickly.

"She's a filthy half-blooded slut. Her mother is a Mudblood and her father is a blood traitor. If you ever touched her, I'd never speak to you again…and I'd make sure that nobody else did either."

Michael looked horrified for a second, but then relaxed. "You're right…I don't know what I was thinking. The little whore…"

The conversation had turned back to normal hurriedly, and they had directed their attention back to the Hufflepuffs. Scorpius even contributed a few comments about how they always seemed to be disgracing the school.

After breakfast, Scorpius had rushed over to the Quidditch Pitch and to put on his equipment. He found the other Slytherins doing the same. Then there was the famous pre-game speech, given by the Slytherin captain. It was the same speech every time—short, sweet, and to the point.

"All right, you bunch of pansies—go out there and show them no mercy! NOW LET'S GO KICK SOME GRYFFINDOR ARSE!"

Everyone yelled in agreement and Scorpius, who was a bundle of nerves, felt himself go through the motions of mounting his broom and following his team up into the air, right into the middle of the field.

Scorpius felt his brain become seemingly blank. The events of the morning were behind him and the events of the preceding evening were far from behind him—he had to force himself to focus. He could clearly see Weasley sitting in the Gryffindor stands, her hands twisting in her lap. She was biting her lip—a habit Scorpius knew that she did when she was nervous. The Slytherin Seeker felt the corner of his mouth twitch as she looked directly at him.

The boy doing the announcements said something, but Scorpius wasn't even paying attention to what had been said. The Quaffle had been thrown into the air.

The game had finally begun.

Scorpius forced his mind to focus on this game. He zoomed around on his broomstick, looking for a glimmer of gold. He needed to get that Snitch.

It was hard to see through the foggy air and the rain. Bludgers flew through the air, narrowly missing Scorpius by inches and the Gryffindors were trying desperately to smack the balls at the Slytherins—but their strategy seemed to be to hit Scorpius.

Knowing that he was a target, Scorpius flew up above the chaos and looked down at the group. He could hear the cheers from all sides of the stadium and he could see Weasley. She looked up at Scorpius confusedly, but then as the Slytherins scored a goal and the Gryffindors hissed and booed at them, Scorpius saw Weasley suddenly stand up and cheer loudly.

To his amusement, several of the Gryffindors had gone very quiet and were giving her the evil eye. As Scorpius flew lower again, he could hear her give the lame excuse of, "I…err…found a Galleon" and she sat down, blushing furiously.

Suddenly, Scorpius saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. The Snitch had just flown by erratically, weaving back and forth, up and down, but it was obvious that the Snitch was staying up high in the air.

Scorpius couldn't help but laugh. He saw Potter gazing feverishly for the Snitch, but to no avail.

Well, maybe it was time to give him a clue.

Ignoring the crazy flying Snitch, Scorpius began to plummet at an accelerated rate. Potter must have been desperate because he flew right after him. Just like practice the previous day, he knew that this was going to be a game of chicken.

A collection of stomping sounds reminded Scorpius that everyone must have stood up in their seats to see what was going on.

Scorpius chanced a glance backward—Potter was right on his tail. He looked back. The ground was a mere foot away. Scorpius deliberately slowed down and reached a hand out to catch the non-existent Snitch. Potter, who was now even with Scorpius did the same, but was too late in realizing that there was nothing to catch. Potter's broom hit the ground, much like Scorpius's opponent's broom had done earlier, and Potter went flying face first into the mud.

Then, Scorpius was off, shooting higher and higher, the real Snitch in sight. Scorpius reached out an arm and grasped the tiny golden ball firmly in his hand.

Yelling and screaming, both of happiness and anger, erupted from the stands. Slytherin had won!

Scorpius dove back toward the ground again and landed steadily. As many of the other Slytherins launched themselves at Scorpius and lifted him up onto their shoulders, Scorpius couldn't help but feel jubilation, elation, joy, euphoria—

He was just so happy that he thought he might burst.

Scorpius glanced up at the Gryffindor section. Most of the Gryffindors had already dispersed but a few remained, talking to each other in groups. Weasley was the only one by herself. She was watching both Scorpius and his group celebrating and her cousin Albus being dragged out of the mud by her other cousin James and the rest of the Gryffindor team.

She looked so torn.

Scorpius waved at her quickly and gave her a fleeting smile. Thankfully, all of the Slytherins were too excited to see.

Weasley looked surprised for the second time that day but she waved back. By the twinkle in her eyes, Scorpius knew what she was thinking.

They had made a silent agreement—they would meet up with each other once more tonight.

* * *

This was the fourth night that Scorpius and Weasley were meeting in the girls' bathroom, but unlike before, he wasn't nervous or surprised at her arrival…he was excited.

With a broomstick in his hands, he was pacing back and forth, waiting for Weasley. She usually showed up around midnight, maybe a little bit afterwards and they usually made out for approximately…

Well, it was just a heck of a long time. But that was okay with Scorpius. He wasn't about to complain.

The door to the bathroom creaked open and Scorpius's heart raced. Rose stepped inside dressed in her robes once again. She looked much more relaxed than the other times they had met and there was even the hint of a grin on her pretty face.

"Hi," she said, almost shyly.

"Hi yourself," Scorpius said with a smirk. He walked forward and took one of her hands in his. He slowly brought her hand to his lips and watched with pleasure as her whole face seemed to turn pink and her ears had gone scarlet.

"You are so beautiful," he said delicately. Scorpius was trying very hard to try to be the person he had wanted to be when he had first come to Hogwarts. He knew that he wasn't doing a very good job of showing it toward his Slytherin classmates, but he was trying to be semi-civil to Weasley's friends when he saw them in the hall and he didn't call Weasley names anymore. He would work on his friends in Slytherin later, when the time seemed right for the truth to come out.

But for right now, he wanted Weasley to at least know how he felt about her, as mushy and girly as it did sound. Weasley seemed to be stuck on the spot, caught off guard.

"What…?"

"Don't act so surprised. Hasn't anyone told you how beautiful you are?"

She still seemed at a loss for words. Scorpius leaned down and captured her unsuspecting lips in his hungrily. He could feel Weasley's heartbeat against his chest as they got more and more into it. Finally, he pulled away, leaving her breathless.

But Scorpius was just getting started.

"Come with me," he pleaded with her. He guided her to an open window in the girls' bathroom. Mounting his broom, he motioned for her to sit behind him.

Weasley looked out the window sheepishly. There was at least a one hundred foot drop from where they were currently at to the ground.

"Oh…I don't know…"

"What, are you afraid?" Scorpius asked in a semi-mocking tone, his signature smirk coming back to haunt him.

Weasley shuffled on the spot.

"Malfoy…"

"Weasley, just trust me…I won't hurt you." He held out his hand, waiting. She looked from him to the window and back again. Finally, she gave out a shaky sigh and she took his hand. He directed her to the area behind him on the broomstick. She took a seat at last, wrapping her arms around his torso tightly.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her face right up against his back. Scorpius beamed.

"You'll see…just hang on!"

He kicked himself off the ground and flew out the window at such a speed that Weasley was hugging all the air out of him. But Scorpius didn't care. He couldn't wait for what was about to happen next.

Scorpius plunged down as fast as he could and laughed as Weasley began to scream shrilly. He then zoomed upward again and flew toward the lake.

The sky was clear now and there wasn't a rain cloud in sight. The moon stood in the middle of the sky surrounded by millions of twinkling stars. Moonlight reflected off the black water as Scorpius and Rose whizzed over the surface. Scorpius leaned to the left, reaching down and brushing the water with his fingertips. The once serene lake was a mess of ripples now, the moonlight distorted.

"Come on, you know you want to," Scorpius said to Weasley. The girl whimpered softly, but leaned over anyway and did the same thing. Soon, she was giggling and Scorpius calmed down—he was worried for a second that she wasn't going to have any fun.

He jerked up once more and flew over top of Hogwarts castle, circling the place in the process. It looked so huge, so grand in the nighttime. It almost had a mysterious aura about it. To his and Weasley's amusement, they even passed a couple at the top of the Astronomy Tower, making out with each other. They were so wrapped up in themselves, they didn't even acknowledge Scorpius and Weasley on the broom. Scorpius was just glad that somebody else had the same idea as he and Weasley. Snogging at night was strangely accelerating—especially when forced to do it in secret.

The couple flew over the Forbidden Forest next, each amazed at seeing such a variety of creatures running around below—centaurs, wolves, unicorns, and much, much more.

Next, they flew over the Herbology Greenhouses, observing the plants that grew both inside and outside of the greenhouses. Finally, Scorpius took them to their final destination—the Quidditch Pitch yet again.

He landed in the middle of the field. Unlike before, the ground was now dry and the grass was soft. As Scorpius jumped off the broom, he couldn't help but notice that Weasley looked slightly scared. Scorpius frowned.

"What's wrong?" he asked weakly. She sincerely looked near tears.

"Nothing," she squeaked, looking away. "I just—I've had a dream about this place once…"

Scorpius put a hand on her arm.

"You're shaking," he said, concerned.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

"Hey," said Scorpius. He wiped away her tears hastily, then placed a small kiss on her forehead. "Don't be sorry…and don't worry. This isn't a dream."

"But—but it feels like it," she hiccupped. "This all feels like a crazy dream…you and me…I don't even know what we are to each other. You're not my friend, but you're not my enemy. I can't exactly call you my boyfriend…I just don't know what you are and I just—just—"

Scorpius, overflowing with emotion, suddenly wrapped his arms around her, steadying her.

"I'm yours," he whispered into her ear. "Isn't that enough?"

Weasley pushed him back lightly and began kissing him feverishly. Scorpius smiled against her lips, just as much wrapped up in the kiss as she was. But this time was different…

Her fingers were wandering around his body impatiently, fiddling with the clasps on his robes. Scorpius, with his lips still attached to hers, undid the clasps until the robes fell to the ground. Weasley was doing the same with her own robes. Both robes now gone, Scorpius kicked them aside carelessly and drew back, looking at what she was wearing.

Perhaps the Gryffindor colors did look wonderful on Weasley. She was wearing a silky, red nightgown with small straps that showed off her collarbones nicely. The gown only came down mid-thigh. Her legs were rather nice…and her breasts were even nicer.

For once, Scorpius didn't wear his ridiculous, but rather comfortable matching pajamas. Instead, he had chosen to wear a simple white tank and his plaid boxers. Weasley seemed as entranced by his body as he was of hers.

It only took a moment of staring before they were at each other again, both tugging furiously on each other's clothes, longing for the articles to come off. Scorpius finally managed to break apart from Weasley long enough to pull off her sexy nightgown. Soon, she was standing in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch with nothing but her lacy black bra and underwear on over her humble, yet perfect figure. Scorpius groaned out loud. She had worn that on purpose.

He was already very much aroused, so very hard. Scorpius silently hoped that she didn't think that he was some kind of sick pervert. His fears were quelled as he saw the look on her face. She didn't care.

She was trying desperately to get his shirt off, but with her shaking hands, she was rather clumsy. Scorpius hastily took off his shirt and threw himself at her.

He hadn't meant to, but Scorpius was a little too eager and he wound up falling onto her, tripping them both over. Scorpius was now on the ground, hovering over Weasley. She looked like she had a mixture of anxiousness and excitement all over her face. Scorpius smiled down at her.

"Stay with me," he said weakly. By the way Weasley reached up and touched his cheek with the back of her hand, he knew that she wasn't going to leave.

* * *

The rays of the morning sun hit Scorpius's eyes and he woke up, still in his boxers, lying next to Weasley. He glanced over at her slowly. She was still asleep, in her undergarments, facing Scorpius. She looked so peaceful. Scorpius instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on Weasley's robe, which they had used as a pillow. Scorpius's robe had been used as a blanket.

As much as he didn't want to, he reached over and gently shook her awake.

"Hey," he whispered.

Weasley's eyes fluttered open and she looked at Scorpius, confused at first. Finally, she comprehended what was happening and she smiled warmly.

"Hey," she whispered back.

Scorpius felt a surge of delight knowing that she had trusted him to not take advantage of her and stay with him. Even though it was very hard to resist with a body such as hers…

He was just glad that all of this was happening, whatever this was.

"We should go before the students start to wake up," Scorpius said.

Weasley nodded and shakily got to her feet, helping Scorpius up in the process. The two went around looking for their clothes and putting them on hastily, making sure that their robes' clasps were all done so nobody could see underneath. There was a silence, but this time, it wasn't awkward. It was more comfortable than anything else. Scorpius put his hands in his robe pockets.

"Well, we'd better go."

"Yeah," said Weasley, although she looked like she'd rather kiss a toilet seat than leave.

Nevertheless, the couple left the Quidditch Pitch together and walked toward the main entrance of Hogwarts. The Slytherin common room and the Gryffindor common room were on opposite sides of the castle. Scorpius stood next to Weasley at the point where they would have to separate.

"Well…bye, then," Scorpius said. He turned to leave, but Weasley put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Wait, Scorpius."

Scorpius whirled around, looking at her with shock. She had _never_ said his first name before. Weasley beamed at Scorpius.

"Last night was…well, it was just…" She struggled for the right words. Scorpius smiled back and drew closer.

"I know." And then he kissed her again. He was just grateful that nobody was out and about to see him like this so he could kiss her in someplace besides the girls' restroom and the Quidditch Pitch. Scorpius broke away and waved over his shoulder.

"Bye," Weasley said gently. Then she too turned away.

Scorpius went straight to his common room feeling delighted, oblivious to the fact that someone was indeed watching him.

* * *

A/N: Longest. Chapter. Ever. I'm really sorry, I know what I said about being ADD when it comes to reading too much. I just hope that that doesn't happen to you when you read this. But thank you SOOOO much to everyone who has reviewed! They really do help me and make me feel like this is worth writing, so just, thanks! Okay...about Michael Baddock...I was looking up minor Slytherin characters on wikipedia to see who lived and didn't have that much of a significant part so that they could produce children. Apparently, Malcolm Baddock was in the GOF book, introduced at the sorting and never mentioned again. So I thought he could go ahead and have a son. And Goyle...well, he didn't die, so I suppose I thought I could make him have twins. Anyway, I'll try to update later! Have an awesome day everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and co.

* * *

Michael Baddock was lying perfectly still in his bed, his eyes closed tightly. He had his mouth wide open intentionally, waiting for the right moment to give out a fake yet convincing snore. He could hear the sounds of Henry and Richard snoring loudly and he knew that they were already deep in slumber. They didn't have to pretend to sleep.

For the past few weeks, Michael had gotten very little rest. At first it was unintentional—his roommate, Scorpius Malfoy, would sneak in around four o'clock in the morning, awakening Michael in the process. Michael had been surprised. He wasn't aware that Scorpius had even snuck out to begin with. Michael decided not to mention it—after all, he was probably playing pranks on people at night. But as he continued to do this night after night with no sign the next day of any huge prank having been played, Michael began to get suspicious. Being slightly lazy, Michael didn't think of following him—he just decided to rest his eyes until Scorpius came into the room each night. Maybe he would do something when he got back to give him a clue as to what he had done wandering around. But Scorpius always came in, flopped himself onto the bed, and was asleep in an instant.

This made Michael even more suspicious and amused if anything else. Perhaps the boy was sleepwalking.

But when Scorpius practically blew up at Michael last week before the big Quidditch game, it suddenly dawned on Michael what was really going on. Scorpius had become angry when Michael threw even a glance at that girl—that _Weasley_ girl. Malfoy had yelled at Michael, telling him to leave her alone. Shock had come over Michael. Scorpius had then hastily said something about how he would never forgive him if he touched her because of the filthy blood she had and how her parents were, but Michael saw a small glimmer in Scorpius's eyes that he had never seen before.

He _liked_ that girl.

Scorpius had managed to fool Henry and Richard, who were relatively dense, but he hadn't fooled Michael. He had gone along with the conversation after that, determined not to jump to conclusions, but there were too many things that Michael saw that persuaded him that Malfoy did indeed like Weasley—there were the small, fleeting smiles he shot at the Gryffindor table, the tiny waves he would exchange with her when he saw that the Potter boys' backs were turned, the late night "strolls" around the school, and of course…there had been that night.

It was the night after the Quidditch game. Michael had decided to cut Malfoy some slack after he had just won that game for the Slytherins and he decided that instead of pretending to sleep, he would just hang around the Potions classroom and make up some work he had missed after being sick. It was nearly three in the morning when he went to the Potions classroom and Michael came out at five, when everyone else in the castle should have been asleep. He was walking down the corridor, minding his own business when a flash of red and green caught his eye.

Quickly, he hid behind a large pillar. There was Malfoy and Weasley, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, embracing…touching each other without disgust…_kissing_!

They were too much into each other to see or hear Michael, but Michael definitely saw and heard them.

It was strange. Michael had figured out what was going on before he had even seen that display of affection. Knowing something and seeing something were two different things. He hadn't said or done anything before but after he had seen that, anger boiled inside Michael. Something had to be done.

The door opened, snapping Michael out of his thoughts about the past few weeks. He quickly made a rather loud, obnoxious snore. The last time Michael had checked, it was nearly five in the morning. Scorpius had left at midnight…

Michael resisted the urge to gag. That meant that Malfoy had probably been out snogging with Weasley for nearly five hours.

With his eyes closed, he obviously couldn't see anything, but besides the sounds of his roommates' snoring and his own snoring, Michael could hear Malfoy's footsteps. His footsteps weren't as soft as they usually were when he snuck in. This time, it was different—it was almost as if there was a spring in Malfoy's steps!

Revolted, Michael made himself a promise. Today, he would tell Henry and Richard what was going on with Malfoy—only Henry and Richard. He would tell them to keep it secret. Being the followers that they were, they would listen obediently. Then, Michael would do something that would test where Malfoy's allegiance was. If Malfoy failed the test…

_Well_, thought Michael, _let's just hope he doesn't fail the test._

* * *

Rose felt lighter than air as she practically floated down the hall. A sappy grin was plastered on her face as she weaved her way through the labyrinth of students in the crowded halls. Rose had never felt so happy in all her life. And it was all because of the last few weeks. It was all because of Scorpius Malfoy.

They had been meeting every night in the girls' bathroom ever since the Quidditch Pitch. Each knew to come automatically. They didn't need any secret invitation to come anymore.

Not only had they met each other each night to make out, but they were also getting to know each other. Scorpius had started it. He had said that he wanted to know everything about Rose. And Rose, who didn't want to push the whole personal thing when it came to a Malfoy before, was only happy to oblige. Scorpius now knew her deepest darkest fears—being thought of as nothing—and he even knew about the nightmare she had had about the Quidditch field. Rose had told him that her dream was to be a Professor at Hogwarts. Scorpius had given Rose information back—he told her that he always wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic and he thought it would be awesome to be on a professional Quidditch team. He also told her all about how he had wanted things to go so much differently than they had when he had come to Hogwarts. Scorpius admitted that he had wanted to be a good person but didn't know if he could anymore.

But now he was genuinely trying. Rose could tell. He was being way nicer to Rose in public and he even tolerated her cousins. Her cousins were confused as to Scorpius's behavior and they thought that he was secretly planning something evil, as if his being nice _had_ to be part of some elaborate scheme, but Rose thought it was sweet.

Yet, Scorpius had said before that living with Slytherins wasn't exactly easy. He said that he wasn't ready to let everyone know about their relationship, especially the Slytherins. Apparently, they would have a field day. Rose was okay with that, but she still couldn't help but wonder if keeping up appearances was more important to him than she was.

Rose was about to make her way into the Great Hall for lunch when she stopped abruptly. She could see Scorpius at the other end of the hall. The Gryffindor girl flashed him a bright smile and Scorpius, who had seen her as well, gave her a half smile and a nod. But he suddenly wiped the grin off his face, as if he were sure that someone was watching and he stuck his foot out, tripping an innocent third year carrying a bundle of books.

Rolling her eyes, but still smiling, Rose waltzed into the Great Hall. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she could smell the food.

Taking a seat at the far end of the table by herself, Rose piled her plate with random food. She took one bite, then set down her fork and stared at the ceiling, which had been enchanted to look like the sky outside. Apparently, it was a sunny day with a perfect blue sky and big, white, fluffy clouds. Rose sighed, toying with her food with the end of her fork. Everything seemed so much more beautiful now…

A soft thump brought Rose out of her trance. She looked across the table and was surprised to see her cousin, Albus. He shifted in his seat as if he were rather uncomfortable.

"Oh, hey, Albus!" Rose said more enthusiastically than she had intended to sound. Albus almost winced but managed to give her a nervous smile.

"Hey, Rose," he said. He glanced to his left at the other Gryffindors then he looked back at Rose. "So…how are you?"

Rose let a small laugh escape her mouth. "I'm great! How are you? I haven't really gotten to hang out with you in a while."

"Yeah," said Albus apprehensively, "that's what I wanted to talk to you about." He moved around in his seat awkwardly again. "You see…I…_we_ all think that…well, the Gryffindors and I…Rose, you...ooph!"

Rose jumped slightly as James suddenly appeared and practically pushed Albus off the seat as he slid down next to him rather quickly. He had a mischievous grin on his freckled face.

"INTERVENTION TIME!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Several people at the other house tables swiveled around to stare at James, Albus, and Rose. Rose turned bright pink, her thoughts about Scorpius cast aside.

"James, what are you—"

But it was too late. A plethora of Gryffindors suddenly joined James's side. Rose could see that the entire Quidditch team had joined James, along with her younger brother Hugo and her younger cousin Lily, both of whom were in their fourth year. They were all staring at Rose with small smiles, but they also looked rather…concerned?

Rose gaped at them confusedly.

"James…what's going on?"

"Hey Rose! How are you feeling?" he asked, casting Rose's question aside. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine. How are…you?"

"We're all great!" James said. "But we're not so sure that you're doing all that well."

It was now Rose's turn to shift in her spot. "What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strange lately," Frank Longbottom said, adding to the conversation.

"Yeah," another Quidditch player added, "it's like the bookworm Rose we know has been replaced. Are you sure this isn't a Slytherin in disguise?" he asked James.

James shrugged. "I don't know…I've heard that Polyjuice Potion is a tedious task, but it can be done…"

"It's me," Rose said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on," Albus said unexpectedly. "You're day dreaming all the time, you've been casting your homework aside, and by the purple surrounding your eyes, it looks as if you haven't gotten a decent night's worth of sleep in nearly a month."

"Some of the professors have been talking too," said Hugo, shooting a glance at the teachers' table.

Rose looked up there as well. The teachers were all eyeing the Gryffindor table with obvious interest, especially Professor Longbottom.

Now bright red, Rose let out a fake laugh.

"Oh, is that all? I've just…decided that there's more to life than school and homework and learning and such."

Frank's eyes widened and James looked like he could have fainted, were he not sitting.

"Somebody pinch me…our Rose thinks that there's more to life than _learning_?! Maybe my Polyjuice Potion theory is correct…"

"Really," Rose said, standing up, "I'm fine."

She glanced at the group that were watching her and suddenly felt a warm feeling inside. Rose didn't realize that so many people cared about her. Nevertheless, she gave them a heartfelt grin and shrugged their worries aside.

"If it's homework you're worried about, then I'll go upstairs and do it right now. I've got nearly an hour until my next class."

"But it's not homework we're worried about," Lily suddenly piped up, "it's you."

"Seriously, don't worry," Rose said. "I'm fine."

She turned on her heel and rushed out of the Great Hall as fast as she could. Rose hadn't realized that she had been acting so weird. She hoped that in the future she would be more careful.

With that thought in mind, she continued to run. The halls were still crowded so she decided that maybe the best place to go was the second floor bathroom. It would be a first for Rose to go there in the daylight, but Rose didn't care. She would take a different route to the girls' restroom, one that wasn't so crowded. Then maybe she could sit and think for a few minutes…

Rounding a corner, she ran down a dark, shadowy hallway with nobody in it. The hallway gave her the creeps, but she forced herself to run down the hall anyway.

She wasn't expecting someone to jump out from behind a pillar.

As she ran into the mysterious person, she was knocked onto her backside rather painfully. Looking up, she saw three fat Slytherin boys glaring down at her. Rose gulped.

They were the three boys that were always hanging around Scorpius…

"Hello, Weasley," snarled the boy in the middle. He raised his wand and shouted, "Silencio!"

Rose felt the influence of the spell immediately. She tried her best to scream out loud for help, but no sound came. The three boys sneered at her and the ringleader reached down and grasped a handful of Rose's red hair in his chubby hand. He yanked her further down the hall by her hair, ignoring how Rose was writhing in his grasp. Finally, he stopped behind an especially large pillar where nobody walking past this hallway could see them. The boy slammed her up against the wall. Rose knew she would be bruising tomorrow.

"Filthy slut…I ought to kill you," he snarled at Rose. He proceeded to spit at her feet. "But if you're dead, then we can't have any fun, can we?" He lifted his wand again.

"Crucio," he said in a deadly whisper.

The only thing Rose felt was pain—every ounce of her being felt as if it had been lit on fire. The pain was unbearable. Her body was now drenched with sweat as she was aching and squirmed uncontrollably on the floor. Her shrieks were clogged by the spell.

She was vaguely aware that the other two boys had a firm grip on her arms so she couldn't escape. As soon as the pain stopped, she looked up weakly.

"Please," she begged weakly, but once again, no sound came out.

The boy cackled loudly. "Your brains are of no use to you now, you wench." He pointed his wand at Rose once again, but the echo of footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor.

"Weasley?" came Scorpius's voice. Apparently, he couldn't see her but he had followed her out of the Great Hall. The larger boy stepped out from behind the pillar, into the shadows, facing Scorpius. The boys holding Rose down gripped her arms tighter as she gasped for breath on the ground.

"Hey, Scorpius," the larger boy snickered. He gave Scorpius an evil smirk as Scorpius came to stand beside him.

"Michael," Scorpius choked, "what are you doing?"

For once, his face actually gave away what he was feeling. He was afraid.

Michael laughed and slapped Scorpius on the back. "Just having a little fun, Scorpius." Michael handed Scorpius his wand. "Want to have a go, mate?"

Rose watched as Michael and Scorpius glared at each other, something unspoken being said between them. Scorpius then turned to Rose.

"Scorpius…Scorpius, please don't…"

Rose realized that he couldn't hear her, but she knew that he understood what she was trying to say.

"Come on, Scorpius. Any old curse will work…hell, I've just used the Cruciatus Curse."

"No," Rose whispered weakly, looking at Scorpius with her pleading eyes.

Scorpius was trembling, but he managed to feebly glare down at Rose.

"Shut up, half-blood scum," he said, his voice hardly louder than a whisper…

To Rose's horror, Scorpius raised the wand.

"Sectum—"

* * *

A/N: Okay, another chapter! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter...it feels kinda...blech. But I'm excited for the next chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update. But either my computer was being a buttface (yeah, I'm cool enough to use that word) or fanfiction was down because I couldn't even log in to update yesterday. Anyway, thank you so much to my reviewers! I love reading your comments after every chapter. You guys know who you are, and you're basically my heroes! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all of these wonderful characters!:)

* * *

Scorpius had never cast a dark spell in his life. Despite what people thought, Scorpius had always made a point to avoid learning about dark spells, curses, and hexes. He only knew three off the top of his head, and those were the three Unforgivable Curses and he only knew of them because they were famous. But Scorpius had learned of one other curse…

His father had told him stories about it. Draco Malfoy never told Scorpius what it did, but he said it was a curse that was placed on him during his sixth year by none other than Harry Potter himself. That fact surprised Scorpius—he didn't think that Harry Potter had it in him to use dark magic. Everyone made out Harry Potter to be a good person. So maybe if Harry Potter did it to his father and his father managed to survive, maybe the curse wasn't so bad after all…

_Besides_, Scorpius reasoned with himself as he stood over Weasley's shaking body, _anything I could do can't be as bad as what Michael has done to her already, right?_

Scorpius racked his brain to remember what his father had said. What did you have to say for that curse? Sectum-something…

No…Sectumsempra.

Although Scorpius was frightened, he had to do something…if the Slytherins found out about his relationship with Weasley, not only would they give Scorpius hell, they'd also probably hurt Weasley even more…

No doubt Michael had already figured it out and was probably trying to test Scorpius or something…

Scorpius could feel Michael's cold eyes piercing him with his gaze and he looked at Henry and Richard, who looked excited that she was getting hurt. Scowling, Scorpius looked down at Weasley, who was pleading with him and sobbing on the floor. Apparently, they had put a silencing charm on her, but Scorpius knew what she was saying anyway.

"Shut up, half-blood scum," he told her. He found that his throat was strangely dry.

He raised his wand.

"Sectum—sectum—"

Scorpius swallowed and tried to complete the spell.

"Se—sectum—"

Weasley was looking up at him, obviously horrified. Scorpius found himself horrified as well. Not only was he horrified at the whole situation, but at himself.

Was he honestly going to place a curse on Weasley? After all they had been through?

Scorpius lowered his wand. "I—I can't…I…"

Michael shoved him hard. "What do you mean you can't?" he demanded angrily.

Scorpius quickly thought of an excuse and put on his most gruesome scowl.

"I can't do it here, you moron! There are people walking by! I've got to do this somewhere private!"

Heatedly, Scorpius pushed Henry and Richard aside and forced Weasley to her feet. She almost couldn't stand up on her own so Scorpius then shoved her to the hard floor roughly. He resisted the urge to flinch as Weasley fell, cutting her knees open in the process. Blood gushed out of her new cuts.

Scorpius reached down and began dragging her down the dark hallway by the back of her robes. He could see Weasley pulling at her collar, gasping for air.

Terrified, Scorpius looked back over his shoulder.

"I'll finish up with her. You lot go find someone else—perhaps a mudblood—to torture."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that all three of the fat boys were standing completely still. Scorpius took that as a sign that they were going to leave off. Quickly, he dragged Weasley out of the hall and down another dark hall. This hall at least had some empty classrooms in it. He darted into the first empty classroom, hauling Weasley behind him.

As soon as they were both inside, Scorpius magically locked the door and sound-proofed the room. He removed the silencing charm on Weasley and let go of her. Scorpius watched as Weasley staggered to her feet, coughing and sputtering. Sweat was dripping down her face.

"Weasley," Scorpius said gently, making to embrace her, but Weasley drew away from his touch.

"Stay away from me," she gasped, rubbing her throat. Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks.

"Weasley, what's wrong?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Weasley let out a bitter laugh, her face screwed up in irritation.

"What's wrong?" she asked sarcastically. "What's wrong is that you almost placed an evil curse on me!"

"But I didn't," protested Scorpius.

"But you thought about it, and that's just the same!" Weasley snapped. She walked behind a desk, as if she needed something between her and Scorpius. "Do you even know what Sectumsempra _does_?"

"No," admitted Scorpius, "but I have a feeling that you're going to tell me."

"I'm _not_ going to tell you!" she shouted. It looked as if she were having no trouble speaking now. "I'll just let you find out what it does when you cast it on another person with even filthier blood than me!"

"You don't have filthy blood," Scorpius said weakly, "and I didn't cast the spell!"

"That's not what you said two minutes ago…what was it again? Oh yeah, 'shut up, half-blood scum'."

"I only said that so they would get off my back! Can't you see that I saved you?" Scorpius demanded, now as angry as Weasley was.

"All you care about is how you look to others! You don't care about me, or this relationship!"

"That's not true!" Scorpius roared. "I do care!"

"Well you have a damn good way of showing it!" Weasley bellowed back, her ears and face bright red with rage. She suddenly shrunk back and looked away. Scorpius could see fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Weasley," he started again, walking toward her slowly, but Weasley wouldn't listen.

"I said stay away from me." Her bottom lip was quivering and her voice was shaky now. "Don't you see, Scorpius? I wouldn't have cared if I were being tortured…just so long as I knew that you would stand up for me." She walked past him slowly. This time Scorpius didn't even try to touch her.

"I can't do this anymore, Scorpius," she sobbed as she removed the charms placed on the room and the door. "I can't pretend to hate you in public and like you in secret. It's just…not working."

Weasley opened the door. She frowned at Scorpius. "Don't ever talk to me again," she said icily before darting out the open door.

Scorpius wasn't going to let her off that easily. He ran right after her.

"WEASLEY! WAIT!"

He didn't care who could hear him this time. All he wanted now was for everything to be okay between them.

As soon as he rushed out the door, he could see Michael, Henry, and Richard. They were all smirking with their arms crossed. Apparently, they knew that Scorpius would come to that particular room.

"How'd it go, Malfoy?" Michael asked mockingly. Henry and Richard snorted.

"I—I—"

"Couldn't do it? I knew you couldn't. You've been all over her for weeks, Malfoy. And once everyone knows about this, you'll be the laughing stock of the Slytherins. Imagine—pureblood Malfoy dumped by his dirty half-blood girlfriend!"

Something inside Scorpius snapped. Michael had known about this the whole time and he had been planning for this to happen. He _knew_ that Scorpius would struggle to keep up appearances and Michael knew that Weasley would freak out about it.

Furiously, Malfoy ran forward and punched Michael as hard as he could. Michael flew backwards into the unsuspecting bodies of Henry and Richard. All three boys were now lying on the floor unmoving. A bit of blood was dripping out of Michael's nose.

Satisfied, Scorpius ran after Weasley again.

"Let's just talk about this!" he yelled. Weasley rounded a corner, Scorpius right now on her heels.

"Leave me alone!" she cried back. They were now in a very bright, crowded hall filled with people of all different ages and houses. There were even some professors walking about. All of the attention was turned toward them.

"Malfoy, Weasley, what's the meaning of this?" insisted Headmistess McGonagall.

But neither of them answered. Weasley, who was an exceptionally fast runner, had run up a long flight of stairs and was making her way over to the Fat Lady, determined to get into the safety of the Gryffindor common room.

Scorpius, who was slowing down as he lost his breath, watched as Weasley ran up to the portrait, whispered a password, and ran through the doorway into the common room. Scorpius desperately tried to reach her in time, but it was too late. The portrait swung itself shut, right in Scorpius's pale face.

"Password?" the portrait said, frowning at him. The Fat Lady could clearly see that Scorpius was in Slytherin.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by James and Albus Potter.

"What are you doing up here, Malfoy?" James demanded.

"None of your business, Potter," Malfoy growled. He turned to Albus, who was looking at him suspiciously. Scorpius gave him a small frown and brushed past them. He didn't really want a confrontation right now.

He just wanted to be alone.

* * *

It had been two days, two whole days, since Weasley had officially called their relationship off and Scorpius had been able to think of nothing else since then. He had tried desperately to talk to her in the halls, but she had given him the cold shoulder each time. She hadn't even looked into his eyes. Weasley simply pretended that Scorpius wasn't there.

The other times he had tried to talk to her, she was surrounded by a group of her friends or relatives. They didn't seem like they knew what was going on, but they wouldn't let Scorpius near her. James and Albus especially didn't want him going near Weasley.

Of course there had been talk going around the school. Everyone wanted to know what was going on between Scorpius and Weasley. It was a big scandal. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor being involved with each other was utterly unheard of. Even the teachers were interested in their relationship. Scorpius could see them eyeing him in class when they thought he wasn't looking.

The Slytherins were making Scorpius's life miserable as well. Scorpius had run into Michael when he came back up to his dorm to sleep. It was inevitable—Michael was his roommate after all.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did back there! You're a traitor to your blood line and to the name Slytherin. Now _everyone_ in Slytherin knows your secret, Malfoy. Why don't you just join your Gryffindor friends?"

Scorpius hadn't even cared to respond to that statement. He simply glanced around the room and stared at the spot where his bed used to be.

"Where is my bed…and _all_ my things for that matter?" he asked.

"Oh," Michael said offhandedly, "you might want to get your stuff…you'll find them at the bottom of the lake…"

And indeed his clothes, books, and everything else he owned were found floating at the top of the lake's surface. Scorpius even had to dive to the bottom of the lake to get the rest of his things. For the past few days, since the Slytherins refused to even let him into the common room, let alone his dorm, Scorpius was forced to live in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was cold, wet, and smelled strange, but it was a private place for Scorpius. It was someplace familiar. Even if Myrtle _had_ taken an interest in hanging out in the stalls more often now that Scorpius had arrived. He also had the strange feeling that she had taken a liking to watching him undress…he just hadn't been able to catch her in the act.

Another reason why he had chosen that place to live was because he had hoped that Weasley would show up. But she hadn't…

That's why Scorpius was now skipping class in order to stand outside Weasley's Ancient Runes class. He had been waiting there for nearly half an hour, but he knew that he could wait for much longer. Today, he promised himself that he would get Weasley to talk to him.

As the class dismissed and students piled out, Scorpius picked Weasley out of the crowd right away—her hair was hard to miss. She was walking next to Albus. Scorpius sighed in relief. Albus may have been a hothead, but he knew that he was definitely not as tough as James.

"Weasley!" Scorpius called out.

The red head turned toward Scorpius, but then rolled her eyes and looked away. Albus was suddenly walking extraordinarily close to her—it was like he had been appointed as her body guard. But Scorpius would not be put off. He raced towards her.

"Please, Weasley! Just…talk to me!" Scorpius pleaded.

Albus turned to him and glared at Scorpius. "She doesn't want to talk to you, Malfoy. How many times do we have to say that?"

"But I need to talk to her!" Scorpius said. He knew he sounded desperate, but he couldn't help it. "Weasley, just look at me at least!"

The girl kept walking with her nose slightly up in the air. Albus shot Scorpius one more death glare then was at her side in an instant.

"WEASLEY, PLEASE!" he begged again. "WEASLEY! ROSE!"

Rose stopped for a moment and turned halfway, apparently surprised that he had used her first name. Scorpius took full advantage of that and rushed to her.

"Five minutes, Rose…that's all I ask for. Just five minutes. If you don't like what you hear, then you can ignore me forever. But you've at least got to hear me out!"

Albus shook his head and tried to nudge Rose forward, but she remained in her spot. Scorpius could see the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. He wanted to wipe them away, but he knew that she didn't want him to touch her.

"Five minutes," Rose whispered. She smiled weakly at Albus. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall for dinner…I promise."

Albus looked as if he wanted to protest, but he only nodded and went on with the rest of the crowd.

Scorpius pulled Rose aside to a corner. Scorpius was vaguely aware that people were watching him, but he ignored them.

"Rose," he said softly, "what I did...it was…" Scorpius struggled for the right words. "I'm sorry," he ended up saying. "I've been thinking about what you said…and I don't give a damn about what they think. I don't care about what the Slytherins say or what the Gryffindors say or what _anyone_ says frankly. The only reason why I did what I did the other day was so that Michael wouldn't get even more suspicious than he was. I did what I did because I didn't want anyone else to find out and have a reason to hurt you."

Scorpius gripped Rose's arm lightly. "All I know is that the thought of you being seriously hurt makes me sick to my stomach. The thought of someone else touching you makes me want to punch someone. The thought of being without you makes me miserable. And the past few days have been…terrible."

Scorpius looked away and swallowed. There seemed to be a lump in his throat.

"Rose, what I'm trying to say is that…I'm falling in love with you."

He looked at her, trying to read what she was thinking but she was crying too hard now. Scorpius took her hand softly.

"I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I don't care who knows it. I just care about you. And you would make me the happiest guy in Hogwarts if you would take me back. Hell, I could even be best friends with James and Albus if that's what you really wanted." Scorpius stopped. "Well, I wouldn't go that far…"

Rose gave out a small hiccup-laugh. And she was smiling.

Scorpius moved closer to her. "I love it when you smile," he said softly. Rose suddenly threw her arms around him, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"Did you really mean what you said about everything?" she whispered against him. Scorpius pulled back.

"Of course I do!" He was beaming now, the past few days' misery forgotten. "So…does that mean you'll take me back?"

Rose didn't even need to think, she only smiled. "Yes."

In spite of himself, Scorpius gave out a holler of happiness. He blushed then turned to Rose.

"Let's go to the Great Hall together…we can tell everyone."

"Together?" asked Rose, holding Scorpius's hand as they began walking down the hall together. "At…the Slytherin table?"

"Nah…let's sit with your friends because…I currently have none."

"You have me," Rose objected.

Scorpius squeezed Rose's hand tighter. "And that's all I need." He leaned down and took her lips in his. Rose didn't protest. This was the first time they had ever kissed in public and Scorpius knew that everyone was staring.

It was even more exhilarating than kissing in private.

When they pulled back, Rose wiped away her semi-dried tears and smirked up at Scorpius.

"So…is it true that the Slytherins threw your belongings into the lake?"

* * *

Michael frowned as he stared across the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table. The color red seemed to fill the table as students wearing black robes with red trimmings aligned the table, eating, talking and joking amongst themselves. The only thing that didn't belong was a solitary figure wearing black robes with green trimmings.

Malfoy.

To Michael's disgust, Malfoy was standing awkwardly next to Weasley as Weasley seemed to almost be introducing him to her friends. Michael watched as Weasley's friends frowned at Malfoy at first then their faces went blank as her story went on. Weasley had stopped talking now and now everyone in the group of Gryffindors had gone quiet. Finally, Albus Potter stood up and extended a hand toward Malfoy. Malfoy looked at it for a moment, as if he weren't sure what to do, then he reached out and shook it firmly. Potter was smiling and the one of the corners of Malfoy's mouth had turned up. Soon, James Potter stood up and did the same. Now all of Weasley's friends stood up and began patting Malfoy on the back. It was almost like they were welcoming him to a big, happy family.

It made Michael want to hurl.

Michael wasn't the only Slytherin looking at the disgusting display. All the Slytherins seemed entranced by the scene unfolding in front of them. Some of the Slytherins were now staring at Michael with interest.

"What do we do now?" Henry Goyle asked, voicing the question that everyone else seemed unable to ask at the Slytherin table.

Michael turned to Henry and glanced at the other people staring at him. He nodded slowly.

"We gave him a chance to get rid of that girl and he didn't. But now it's time for some action," Michael told them. "Soon, we're going to give the _happy couple_ exactly what they deserve."

* * *

A/N: Here's another chapter! I like writing this one...I don't know why, I just enjoyed writing it much more than some of the others. Anyway, a BIG thank you to everyone who has been reviewing! I hope my chapters haven't been lacking in quality...I've been so distracted with trying to get everything together for a new year at college. So I very much appreciate any input that you guys have to offer. Okay, I know, enough rambling. I'll update later!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters...I only own the plot.

* * *

Rose glanced at the mirror in front of her nervously, a small frown on her face. She was turning this way and that, determined to look at herself from all angles. Frustrated, she stopped and crossed her arms.

She wanted today to be perfect…and she wanted to look perfect as well.

There were no classes today, being a weekday, and Rose and Scorpius had decided that they wanted to go on a date. A real date, that is—a date that doesn't involve secrecy.

As Rose thought about the date that she had planned for today, she knew that there actually was some sort of secrecy. Scorpius had said that the best place to go for a date that was relatively close was Hogsmeade. In order to get into Hogsmeade, they would have to go through a secret passageway that James and Albus somehow knew about. Rose tried to argue with Scorpius and say that Hogwarts had plenty of places that they could walk around and talk, but Scorpius seemed reluctant to do so.

In all honesty, Rose thought that Scorpius could probably use a break from Hogwarts.

After Rose and Scorpius had made up, Rose met Scorpius in the bathroom again—not because she was afraid of what people thought about their relationship—simply because she wanted to see him in the later hours of the day, when the Prefects roamed the corridors. But when she had come inside the bathroom, she saw Scorpius there, grinning widely, sitting next to all his belongings. Rose was shocked at what had seen—she had only heard about how Scorpius's things had been thrown into the lake--she had no clue that the Slytherins had kicked him out and he was living in the bathroom! So she convinced Albus and James to allow Scorpius to live in their room temporarily. The other Gryffindors were trying their best to get to know Scorpius since Rose liked him so much and were therefore willing to allow Scorpius to roam around the Gryffindor common room and dorms freely.

Still, Scorpius seemed to be secretly dreading the Slytherins and Rose didn't blame him. Although they had left Scorpius alone, Rose couldn't help but feel like they were plotting something. The Slytherins had left this whole issue alone way too easily.

So as Rose observed herself, she hoped that she looked good, not only for Scorpius but also for his father.

After their date, they had agreed to meet each other's parents.

Rose was wearing muggle clothes—a simple green sweater and a pair of form fitting jeans. She thought that she looked pretty good, but she hoped that Draco Malfoy was everything Scorpius said he was and wouldn't look down on her.

Halfway satisfied, Rose rushed out of her dorm and made her way down to the common room.

Several Gryffindors were sitting at tables, either studying, talking, or playing a serious game of chess. But James, Albus, and Scorpius sat on a couch by the fireplace. Scorpius seemed paler than usual. James seemed was enthusiastically telling Scorpius something.

"—and that's how we shoved five Snitches up Filch's a—"

"ROSE!" Scorpius cried, standing up and smiling anxiously. "Thank God! I mean…how are you?"

Rose beamed at Scorpius. "You look great," she said softly, touching his arm gently. He was wearing his robes and Rose wondered if she should have done the same.

The color returned to Scorpius's face as he smiled back at Rose. "And you look beautiful. My father is going to love you."

"Whoa, you're going to meet Malfoy's dad?" James asked, standing up as well. "You never told us that."

"Yeah," Rose replied, "and Scorpius is going to meet my mother and father."

"Good luck," Albus scoffed amusingly, "Aunt Hermione is nice and more open minded about things than Uncle Ron. _He_ may have a bit of a problem."

Scorpius looked down at Rose apprehensively. "Really?"

"Well," began Rose, "yeah…but when I explain the situation and when I tell them how crazy I am about you, he won't care. He'll have to get over it."

Scorpius frowned and was about to say something, but Rose cut him off with a long kiss.

James cleared his throat loudly and Rose pulled away.

"So…you guys ready?" he asked.

Rose nodded and her cousins led them out of the common room, down numerous staircases, and through several different halls. Finally, they reached a statue of a one-eyed witch with a humped back. James tapped the statue with his wand and muttered, "Dissendium".

The hump sprang open, revealing a small, dark passageway. Albus turned to the couple.

"When you reach the end, you'll find that you've made it into Honeydukes. Be careful…James and I have almost be caught by employees carrying boxes in the back. If they find out about this passage, then they'd get rid of it and James and I would be forced to go to Hogsmeade once a month like everybody else."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How did you guys even know about this passageway in the first place?"

James smirked. "Let's just say that my dad gave us a very valuable heirloom."

Rose shook her head. "I don't want to know. But thank you for this. We'll see you later on tonight!"

Scorpius squeezed into the tiny hole first and Rose followed after. Rose let a small cry escape her mouth. Her stomach dropped unexpectedly as she slid down a small slide. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she realized that it was pitch black.

"Scorpius?" she called out, suddenly frightened.

"Rose," Scorpius replied. Rose jumped as she felt his strong arms reaching out for her. "Lumos!"

A bright light filled the passageway, coming from Scorpius's outstretched wand. They were standing in a tunnel that was just big enough for both of them to be standing up in. It was damp and the ground was made of dirt. As Scorpius swiveled his wand around, the tunnel seemed to go on for ages.

"Well, we'd better get started."

The duo trudged forward for what seemed like hours. If Rose weren't so excited and nervous about the date and meeting Mr. Malfoy, then she would have turned around after it felt like five minutes. At last, they reached a dead end. Looking up, they saw what looked like a small door made of wood. Shadows moved across the boards and voices could be heard distantly.

They had finally made it.

When the shadows had gone away, Rose took that as her cue and she cautiously lifted the door an inch. Nobody was in sight. She climbed out and helped Scorpius out after her. They shut the door then hid behind a stack of boxes as a few employees came into the backroom, carrying even more boxes. Finally, they managed to sneak out into the main area of Honeydukes.

Rose, who had had a feeling of uneasiness as she and Scorpius were walking down the passageway, visibly relaxed and began enjoying herself.

Scorpius bought himself a whole bagful of sweets at Honeydukes. His favorite seemed to be the Acid Pops—he had purchased about twenty of those. When Rose questioned why he would want something so terrible, he merely shrugged and said something about his slimy Slytherin comrades. Rose couldn't help but be amused.

He may have been hanging out with Gryffindors, but there was something decidedly Slytherin inside Scorpius.

They traveled to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop next, where Rose went crazy and bought many different quills, scrolls, and inkwells. She even dragged Scorpius into Gladrags Wizardwear, where she spent about forty minutes looking at different dress robes. Scorpius seemed surprised that Rose would spend an equal amount of time in both the Quill shop and in the Wizardwear shop, but he merely rolled his eyes impatiently and kept murmuring something about how crazy girls were.

After sensing that Scorpius was getting bored looking at the frilly dress robes, she allowed Scorpius to choose the next place. Of course, he chose a small Quidditch supply shop that had recently been built, where he spent nearly an hour and a half observing the newest broomsticks, looking at the Quidditch balls, and talking to other boys who were equally as excited about Quidditch. Rose chose to talk to the boys' girlfriends, who looked as bored as she was.

But after all that, Scorpius and Rose rested in Madam Puddifoot's, where they sipped tea at a small table. Several other couples were there as well, practically eating each other's faces. Rose was slightly disgusted. She hoped that she didn't look like that when she kissed Scorpius in public.

"I'm so nervous," Rose admitted to Scorpius as she drank her tea. She had owled her parents telling them to meet her in the Three Broomsticks so she could talk to them. She hadn't even mentioned Scorpius. Scorpius had owled his father as well telling him to meet in the Hog's Head, where they usually went for a drink. The plan was to gradually lead their parents toward the front of Honeydukes where they would "accidentally" bump into each other. Then they would spill the news.

But as the time drew closer and closer for her to meet her parents, she couldn't help but have butterflies. She hoped that everything would go well.

Scorpius suddenly reached over and touched her hand. "You have nothing to be worried about. My father will see what a beautiful, bright, kind witch you are and he'll fall in love with you in an instant."

Rose smiled. She could hardly believe that a little over a month ago, she had hated Scorpius. "You're amazing," she told him meekly.

Scorpius gave her his infamous smirk. "I could have told you that. It's the Malfoy charm."

"You're also _so_ modest." She glanced at a clock on the wall and the butterflies seemed to go wild in her stomach. "I have to go. But I'll see you in fifteen minutes."

Scorpius solemnly nodded and got up, leaving the tea shop with Rose. With one more kiss, the couple departed.

* * *

Scorpius walked into the Hog's Head, his face showing no emotion even though the Hog's Head was the place where the shadiest people around liked to sit down and drink. As soon as he entered, his eyes had to adjust to the dim light. There was hardly any sunlight streaming in through the windows—it was as if the windows hadn't been washed in years purposely. The floors too, Scorpius knew, were as filthy as the windows. He knew that his shoes, which were always shiny, were probably becoming dirty. Glancing around, he saw that many of the people sitting at the old tables either kept their heads down or were wearing dark cloaks with hoods large enough to obscure their faces.

Immediately, Scorpius spotted his father. His shock of blond hair gave him away in the darkness.

Draco Malfoy sat up as straight as he could and his nose was only slightly turned upwards. He looked relatively calm, considering that he hated this place almost as much as Scorpius hated the Hog's Head. But Scorpius knew that Draco, although changed, still felt like he wasn't entirely welcome into the Three Broomsticks. Draco was also judged…not only by what _his_ father had done, but what he had done as well.

Nobody seemed to realize that the Draco Malfoy of the past was totally different than the Draco Malfoy of the present.

"Father," Scorpius greeted Draco stiffly. He tried to match Draco's posture and facial expression.

Draco got up to greet his son as well. "Scorpius." He reached over and placed a strong, but temperate hand on Scorpius's shoulder.

"You've grown," he added, looking over his son who was nearly as tall as Draco was now.

"Yes," replied Scorpius. He caught the beginnings of a small smile form in his father's face. Scorpius gave him the tiniest of smiles back.

"You said that you wished to speak to me about something," Draco said.

"Oh, yeah! Err…yes, Father. Let's speak outside, where it's...quieter."

Even though the Hog's Head was already deathly silent, Draco nodded, placing his hand on his son's back and leading him outside.

"Your mother had to work today. I'm sorry she couldn't come."

"It's fine. You can just tell her what I'm about to tell you," Scorpius assured him.

"And what is it that you want to tell me?"

They were walking down the cobblestone road now, passing the post office and Derrish and Banges.

"Father, remember way back when you were in school…?"

Scorpius trailed off when his father narrowed his eyes at his son. "No, I don't mean like, _way_ way back…you look very young. Your hair is nice by the way. And did I mention—"

"You're rambling, son," Draco said, rubbing his temple as if he had a headache. "Get to the point…please," he added in a more gentle tone.

"Right…well, you know how you weren't exactly friends with many people in school?"

Draco glared at his son and Scorpius inwardly groaned. He wasn't doing a very good job at telling his father things…at least he wasn't very good at telling his father things without unintentionally insulting him.

Scorpius let out a sigh of frustration. "Do you remember Harry Potter?"

"It's hard to forget," Draco responded almost automatically.

"And…do you remember Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes," his father said. Now they were passing Gladrags Wizardwear shop. "I don't quite understand what you're getting at, son."

"Well…what did you think of Hermione and Ron?"

Draco looked deep in thought for a moment, but he looked forward as he responded.

"Granger was smart for…someone of her upbringing and Weasley was…a decent flyer."

Scorpius smiled. He hadn't called Mrs. Weasley a Mudblood at least. But he seemed unsure of what he thought about Mr. Weasley.

"Why do you ask?" Draco Malfoy asked, obviously getting impatient.

"Well…you see, the thing is…I met this…"

Scorpius could see Rose now, who was talking to a tall, lanky, red headed man and a pretty lady with bushy brown hair. Rose seemed to be stumbling for the right way to tell her parents what was going on too. But soon, both Rose and Scorpius had gone quiet as Draco Malfoy was suddenly standing in front of Hermione and Ron Weasley. Rose had joined Scorpius, who was now standing awkwardly in between them.

"Scorpius…?" asked Draco, staring down at his son questioningly. Ron and Hermione were staring at their daughter confusedly as well.

Scorpius instinctively reached down and grabbed Rose's shaking hand. He gave all three adults a weak smile.

"Father, this is Rose. She's my girlfriend."

A long silence followed, but before it could get even more awkward than it already was, Rose put in her two cents.

"Mum, Dad…this is Scorpius. We've been dating."

Another awkward pause.

"Well, Scorpius…it's lovely to meet you," said Hermione, grinning at Scorpius. Scorpius couldn't help but grin back.

"It's nice to meet you too," he said almost shyly.

"Well, Weasleys," Draco said to both Hermione and Ron. "It looks like you've managed to produce a rather attractive looking child. Congratulations."

"That's his version of a compliment," Scorpius whispered loudly as he looked at Rose, who looked as if she weren't sure whether to remain silent or thank him. Hermione heard him and gave Draco a small nod and smile.

"That's very…nice?" Rose said hesitantly. She turned to her father.

"Dad?" she asked.

But Ron looked furious—his whole face was contorted with anger and he was very red.

"THIS HAD BETTER BE A JOKE!" he bellowed. Several people walking by on the street shot them curious glances.

"Ron, dear, you're making a scene…," Hermione warned in a false sing-song voice.

"I DON'T CARE!" Ron lowered his voice slightly. "No daughter of mine is going to be seen with a—a—a Malfoy!"

"Now wait just a second," Draco suddenly cut in a calm voice, "Scorpius is a good boy. He seems to be happy with your daughter. I don't see why—"

"He's exactly like him! Look at him!" Ron commanded his wife. Hermione glanced from Draco to Scorpius and Scorpius could feel himself turn pink. He _did_ look exactly like his father.

"Ron, I don't think how he looks is a good way to judge—"

"Dad," Rose suddenly said sternly, "how could you? Scorpius is a great guy! He's smart, nice, and cute and—" Rose turned pink when she mention that she thought Scorpius was cute. "—and Mr. Malfoy seems like a nice man!"

"You haven't seen what he can do, young lady," Ron said, infuriated.

"Whatever he did, it's all in the past!" Rose argued back.

"Weasley," said Draco Malfoy, "perhaps we should just let go of—"

"NO!" Ron yelled. He grabbed Rose's hand roughly and began dragging her away. "We're taking you back to Hogwarts, young lady!"

"Dad! Let go!" she yelled as Ron overpowered her and she began to be pulled away. She glanced back helplessly at Scorpius and Draco Malfoy. "Scorpius!"

Scorpius lunged forward, but Draco wrapped his arm around Scorpius's torso, stopping him.

"Son, let him cool down and talk to his daughter. Perhaps we could talk about this later with him."

Scorpius struggled for a moment longer, but became still and sighed. His father was right, as usual. He watched feebly as Rose continued to be dragged away. Rose, who apparently knew that there was no stopping her father called out, "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Malfoy!"

Mr. Malfoy waved slightly at her. Hermione Weasley was left standing uneasily in front of the two Malfoys.

"I'm terribly sorry about him. It takes him a while to accept things." She looked at Scorpius kindly.

"It really was nice to meet you. You seem like a nice young man. I hope we'll be seeing more of you in the future." She looked from Scorpius to Draco, as if unsure of what to say. She gave a brisk nod to Draco.

"Nice to see you," she muttered before reeling around and following her husband and daughter.

"Good-bye, Granger."

Scorpius heaved a heavy sigh. Draco had done the same.

"Well…that didn't go as well as I had hoped."

* * *

As soon as Rose walked through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room, relief instantly flooded her as Scorpius was sitting on the couch by the fireplace, waiting for her. He was the only one in the common room at that time, but he didn't seem to mind. Instantly, Scorpius was on his feet and had swept Rose up in a hug.

"Rose," he said softly, "today was—"

"I'm so sorry," Rose apologized against his body. "My mother thinks that you're sweet. But my father…well, at least he's not preventing us from seeing each other. Not that it would matter if he did."

"So, he's okay with this?" Scorpius asked, drawing back.

"Well, no," Rose admitted, "he's _allowing_ it…and he won't talk to me." Rose rolled her eyes. "He's such a big baby."

Scorpius chuckled. "Well, my dad thought that you and your mother looked exactly alike, but he said that you have your father's flair for anger."

Rose giggled and hugged Scorpius once again. Scorpius leaned down and gave her temple a small kiss. "Let's go down to dinner. It's nearly over and I'm starving."

"All right," Rose agreed. "Just let me change my clothes. My father dragged me so hard that I fell over and ripped a hole in my jeans."

Rose glanced down at the large hold in her knee area. Scorpius nodded.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" he asked.

"No," Rose sighed, "I'll just meet you, James, and Albus downstairs. I'll only be a second."

It was Scorpius's turn to roll his eyes. "In girl talk, a second means half an hour."

Rose punched his shoulder playfully. "Just go."

As soon as he was gone, Rose smiled and ran up the stairs to her dorm. None of her roommates were inside. She ran to her trunk immediately and pulled out a fresh pair of pants as quickly as she could—she wanted to prove that girls could be quick.

In the silence, Rose jumped as she heard a floorboard creak. Goosebumps filled her arms as she stood up slowly.

"Hello?" she called out into the seemingly empty room.

No sound came again. Rose shrugged and returned to her jeans. Just as she had pulled on her old pair of pants and put on the new one, a bitter voice piped up from behind her.

"Hello, Weasley."

Rose shrieked and tripped over her trunk as she tried to spin around to see who it was. The figure was wearing all black with a large hood—she couldn't see his or her face. But suddenly, more figures were there. They had been hiding under the beds and were crawling out towards her. Screaming again, Rose tried to get up and run away.

Abruptly, the first figure Rose had seen took what looked like a candlestick out of his or her robe pocket and bashed Rose on the head.

Darkness took over and Rose knew no more.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was enjoyable to write but frustrating as well. It was the whole Hogsmeade thing. I couldn't remember if something happened to the passageway to Hogsmeade. Like, I didn't know if it was destroyed or not. But I assumed that somebody would have come along and fixed it in over nineteen years if it had been destroyed. I also hoped I got some of the shops at Hogsmeade right. I also didn't add Scorpius's mother in there because the book didn't describe her and I honestly didn't want to speculate about her. I kinda wanted him to marry Pansy, even though she tried to convince the Slytherins to turn in Harry Potter in the last book. Oh well. Well, thank you all for the reviews! I'll try to get a new chapter up ASAP!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K. Rowling!!!!!!:)

* * *

The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as Scorpius sat anxiously at the Gryffindor table, toying with his food without thinking. He tried to eat, but couldn't. Scorpius glanced over at Albus and James, who were talking eagerly about a new prank that they just _had_ to play on Filch. Frank Longbottom and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were strategizing for the next game, and the rest of the Gryffindors were preoccupied with making plans for the rest of the weekend. The Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws seemed to be talking about the same things—except perhaps about the pranks on Filch—but a majority of the Slytherins were missing from the Slytherin table. 

And Rose hadn't come down to dinner.

Scorpius knew that girls tended to take forever prepping in the mirror, but this was ridiculous. It had nearly been forty minutes since Scorpius had seen Rose last.

Honestly, how long did it take to put on a new pair of jeans?

Scorpius looked over at the Slytherin table once more and his stomach churned unceremoniously. Something didn't seem right.

"Potter? Have you seen Rose?" he asked, jabbing James in the ribs.

"Ow!" cried James irritably, "I haven't seen her, mate!"

"I doubt she would have taken a seat anywhere else but next to you," said Albus, rolling his eyes. "So she's probably not here."

"Well, where is she?" demanded Scorpius. "Rose said that all she had to do was change her pants!"

"Relax," James said casually, "maybe she took one look at herself and decided that she simply _had_ to take a long shower. You know girls. Or, come to think of it, maybe you don't…"

"She fine, Malfoy," interrupted Albus. Scorpius and the rest of the Gryffindors were still on a last name basis. "If it's worrying you _that _much then I'll go up and check."

"No," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes, "I'll check. See you around, Potter."

Scorpius walked out of the Great Hall and ran all the way up to the Fat Lady's portrait. He muttered the password, which had been given to him by the Gryffindors, and the portrait swung open. Scorpius dashed inside and glanced around the common room. There was nobody inside save for one red-headed girl reading a book. At first, Scorpius thought it was Rose and leaped forward in relief, but he realized that this girl's hair wasn't bushy. Scorpius gave her a second glance and found out that it was Lily Potter.

"Potter," Scorpius said quickly.

Lily glanced up and smiled brightly at Scorpius. "Hello, Scorpius. How are you?"

Unlike the other Gryffindors, Rose and Lily were the only ones who called Scorpius by his first name. Lily was okay…for a fourth year.

"Err…hello. Listen, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" Lily asked, putting her book aside.

"Boys can't get up to the girls' dorms, so could you walk up and see if Rose is up there?" he asked.

"Sure," said Lily, shooting Scorpius a knowing look. "I'll go get Rose. You two are the cutest thing ever!"

"Umm…yeah…well, thanks."

Lily disappeared upstairs and Scorpius was forced to wait on a couch impatiently. Five minutes later, Lily reappeared, looking disappointed.

"She's not up there, Scorpius. In fact, nobody is up there. Sorry I couldn't help you."

"It's all right. I'm sure she is just…roaming the castle," Scorpius said more to himself than to Lily, but his tone gave his real thoughts away.

He darted out of the common room and ran about the castle frantically, checking in every empty classroom, secret passageway, and bathroom he knew of.

Rose was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe she decided to get some fresh air," Scorpius muttered doubtfully. He quickly stopped talking to himself and scurried out the front door of the castle.

It was a cloudy night with the full moon hanging in the middle of the sky. Occasionally, a cloud would obscure the moon and Scorpius would be plunged into darkness. Scorpius muttered "Lumos" and the tip of his wand shone brightly. He hastily thought about his options.

The only place that he thought Rose could possibly want to go was either the Greenhouses (perhaps she had to do some extra work), Hagrid's Hut (it had been awhile since she had visited him), or the Quidditch Pitch.

Scorpius thought about the latter option and decided that she probably didn't want to go back to the Quidditch Pitch. Although that night he had spent with her at the Quidditch Pitch had been excellent, Scorpius knew how Rose felt about that place with the dreams she had been having. He decided to check out the Herbology Greenhouses first, Hagrid's Hut next (since Scorpius and Hagrid weren't exactly close), and the Quidditch Pitch last.

There was no activity in the Greenhouses, save for the occasional Mandrake letting out a ear splitting scream and Scorpius had had the sense to place earmuffs over his ears before he had entered.

Rose wasn't in Hagrid's Hut either. As Scorpius knocked on Hagrid's Hut nervously, the large, aging half-giant answered the door, looking confused.

"Malfoy?"

Given the fact that Scorpius had only really started to be nice to people recently, Hagrid's reaction wasn't unexpected.

"Hagrid," Scorpius said breathlessly, "have you seen Rose?"

"Rose?" he asked, even more puzzled. The half-giant obviously had no clue about Scorpius and Rose. Before, Scorpius had only referred to Rose as Weasley or some creative term that Scorpius had made up especially to insult Rose.

"Well…no, I 'aven't," he muttered. "But if ya see 'er, tell 'er to come by and see me."

"I will," said Scorpius, who was officially scared for Rose now. He tried to keep the fear out of his voice. He was about to run away, but Hagrid's voice stopped him.

"Malfoy, this isn't a joke, is it?" Hagrid asked. Scorpius turned to Hagrid and gave him a sad half smile.

"No…this isn't a joke."

* * *

The first thing that Rose was conscious of when she woke up was that she was not in her bedroom. With her eyes still closed, Rose knew that the voices she was hearing around her didn't belong to her roommates. Plus, there were way too many voices. 

She wasn't in the Gryffindor common room either. Only a few of the voices she was hearing sounded familiar, but if she were in the Gryffindor common room, she knew that she would be able to place more of the voices.

Rose knew that she wasn't even inside for that matter. A light breeze was blowing all around her and the surface she was laying on had be grass. She opened her eyes a fraction.

That was a mistake.

"She's awake!" somebody yelled.

Before Rose could even process what was happening, two strong pairs of arms grabbed Rose's wrists and forced her to her feet. Rose cried out and glanced around, wide eyed.

She was in the Quidditch Pitch once again…but this time, it wasn't a dream. It didn't even feel like a dream like when she had come to the field with Scorpius. It felt real. And it _was_ real.

Rose was surrounded by about fifty Slytherins, who had formed a large circle around her. They were all jeering at Rose and looking at her with hungry eyes. They all looked like they would love nothing more than to kill her.

The two boys holding her looked familiar—it was almost as if—

"You!" Rose cried out in alarm as she realized that the boys grasping her arms were the boys that had held her when Michael Baddock had tortured her. The boys glared at Rose and someone from the circle of Slytherins stepped forward.

It was Michael Baddock himself.

Suddenly, everything came back to Rose. She had met Scorpius's dad and her own father had flipped out. She went to get a new pair of pants from her room and then a group of people wearing black, hooded robes had ambushed her! And somebody had struck her over the head with a candlestick!

"Shut up, Weasley whore," Michael spat. He stepped forward and backhanded Rose as hard as he could. Cheeks burning, Rose slumped forward. If the two large boys hadn't been holding her up, she would have fallen from the force of Michael's slap. Several Slytherins cackled at Michael's cruelty and Rose's pain.

Michael moved closer and cupped her chin in his hands. He forced Rose to look at him. Rose chose to _glower _at him.

"Don't worry, Gryffindor trash. You're not the one we want. You're just the bait."

"Well, who do you want then?" demanded Rose, even though she already knew the answer.

"For a smart person, you're very dense. Think _really_ hard, Weasley. Who do you think we want?"

Rose's bottom lip quivered and she tried to lunge forward, but the boys had a tight grip on her.

"Why are you doing this? What has he ever done to you?" Rose yelled hysterically.

"He touched you, that's what he did. He touched you willingly and with pleasure. And you're _nothing_ but the daughter of a Mudblood."

Michael pressed his mouth against Rose's ear and whispered so quietly that not even Michael's two friends beside him could hear.

"Forget Malfoy…forget that Malfoy bastard and perhaps we could let you go. Why don't you come with me? I'm ten times the man he'll ever be."

Michael stuck his tongue into Rose's ear, attempting to be seductive. Rose withered away from him and spat at his feet, her cheeks flushed not only from the slap, but from pure loathing.

Michael straightened up and smirked at Rose evilly.

"Right then," he spoke loudly to the group. "Just because we're after Malfoy doesn't mean we can't have some fun with her first!"

He pointed his wand at her and Rose knew what was about to happen.

"Crucio."

Rose had braced herself for the pain but the pain felt even more unbearable somehow. She shrieked shrilly, her body rocking to and fro while being forced on her feet. The Slytherins must have put a silencing charm on the Quidditch Pitch rather than on Rose because Rose figured that she had never screamed so loud in all her life. Her throat was dry and scratchy, and every inch of her flesh felt like it was being set on fire and being stabbed all at the same time. Her body was now covered in cold sweat—the two boys had to grab on harder to keep from letting go. Rose could barely feel the warm tears falling from her cloudy eyes.

The pain stopped after an eternity and Rose was now standing limply.

"Let go," Michael said tersely.

Rose fell forward like a rag doll, her face slamming against the ground. Michael came forward and grabbed Rose by her hair, making her face the audience.

"After I get a piece of her, who wants to have her next?" he asked.

There was a collection of snickering from the group, which consisted of all boys. Rose was too weak to stop Michael from touching her—in one swift motion, he had lifted her off the ground and he managed to remove sweater. He asked for assistance from his two sidekicks when he wanted Rose's pants removed. Now Rose was being lifted up against her will by the last person she wanted to have touching her and she was halfway naked and fully ashamed. To Rose's horror, Michael threw her to the ground and forced himself upon her. He unhooked her bra and threw it aside carelessly.

His fingers brushed the elastic part of Rose's panties. The Slytherins were growling in satisfaction. Then—

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!"

Rose knew that it was Scorpius who had come to her rescue before she even used her dwindling strength to look up. As much as she wanted to be rescued and as much as she appreciated Scorpius standing up for her, she wanted nothing more than for him to turn around and run back to the castle.

Could he not see that this was a trap?

"Scorpius…," Rose managed to gasp.

Scorpius was running at full speed toward the couple, his wand held out and his face twisted with fury. The circle of Slytherins made a small path for him.

"Expelliarm—"

"CONFRINGO!"

Michael had pulled out his wand as soon as he heard Scorpius. Scorpius hadn't had time to disarm Michael—Michael's spell had forced Scorpius's wand to explode in his hand. It shattered into a million pieces, rendering Scorpius defenseless.

Two other boys from the group ran forward and grabbed Scorpius's wrists. But as he struggled furiously to reach Rose two more boys ran forward and the four Slytherin boys managed to wrestle Scorpius to the ground, who was thrashing about wildly.

"LET GO!" Scorpius snarled. "LET _HER_ GO! IT'S ME YOU WANT!"

Michael waited until he Scorpius craned his neck to face Michael and Rose. He proceeded to take off Rose's panties hastily. This made Scorpius writhe even more rapidly. Rose, whose whole face was burning with shame and embarrassment, somehow found the strength to cover her breasts with one arm and her private area with the other arm. She looked straight at Scorpius.

"Just leave," she pleaded softly. Scorpius scowled at the four boys on top of him, all of whom were crushing his body.

"I'm not leaving without you," he said stubbornly before one of the boys covered his mouth roughly.

Michael jumped off top of Rose and directed his wand at Scorpius.

"LEVICORPUS!"

The boys on top of Scorpius rolled off of him as Scorpius dangled upside down in the air as if an invisible force was holding him up by his ankles. He glared at Michael as if he would like nothing more than to strangle Michael.

"Let her go!" Scorpius said sternly. "She's done nothing to you! Take me! Please, just take me!"

"You're right—Weasley can't help it if she has dirty blood—but you're the one that betrayed the name Slytherin. You're the one that's going to suffer!"

"Don't hurt him," begged Rose weakly on the ground. Michael simpered down at Rose.

"Oh, no, Weasley…we're not going to hurt him. We're just going to allow him to have front row seats to the main event. It'll hurt him much more than any spell we could cast."

Rose didn't have to ask what the 'main event' was…she turned her head slowly from side to side and she could see about a dozen boys sauntering over to her. With tears streaming down her face, she looked feebly up at Scorpius.

He was yelling something, probably cursing, but Rose was too preoccupied with the thought of being handled by so many boys to hear or understand what he was saying. Her heart was racing and she tried to quell her terror by looking up at the sky and trying to be brave.

Her eyes widened.

* * *

Albus Potter walked through the portrait hole with James, laughing his head off. James had just come up with the most brilliant idea ever—the Potter brothers would sneak off tonight and put a spell on Filch's seat at the professors' table in the Great Hall. They would enchant the chair to stick itself to Filch's backside so that when he tried to get up to leave, it would be impossible for it to come off. In a way, Albus couldn't help but feel sorry for Filch—he was always the butt of all the Potter brothers' pranks—but Albus also thought that Filch deserved it. He was borderline crazy, always talking to his cat and wishing that the school still used corporal punishment on the students. 

The two boys were making their way to the common room after dinner and most of the other Gryffindors were doing the same, obviously looking for a place to relax. But as soon as the boys stepped one foot into the common room, their little sister Lily rushed up to them.

She looked worried.

"Albus…James…"

"What's wrong?" asked James, alarmed. James may have been the one kid in the family who took things less seriously than others, but when it came to his little sister, he got very protective.

"Have you guys seen Scorpius?" she asked nervously.

James frowned. "Malfoy? We saw him at dinner. He was looking for Rose…" He trailed off, looking at Albus, confused.

"Why?" asked Albus quickly, "what's wrong?"

"He came looking for Rose over an hour ago and…Rose wasn't here and Scorpius took off to look for her and neither of them have come back."

"Oh, Lily," James said, clearly relieved, "they probably found each other long ago and went someplace to snog. They're _fine_."

Lily looked pale, but nodded slowly. "If you say so…"

She went back to the chair she was previously sitting at and returned to her book. Albus shrugged and took a seat at a table near a window. James joined him and began telling him about how gross it was that the seventh years were forced to write three scrolls about the mating habits of centaurs when something caught Albus's eye.

The Quidditch Pitch, which was illuminated by the moon, had quite a few dozen dark figures in the midst of the field. They were all walking around on the ground. It was clear that they weren't playing Quidditch. But the thing that got most of Albus's attention was the fact that there was a tiny red headed figure not dressed at all, lying in the center and there was another figure that was levitating upside down in the air.

Albus gasped. The red head was Rose and the person upside down was Malfoy!

"MERLIN'S BALLS!" shouted Albus, shooting up out of his seat. James looked at him strangely and the whole common room had gone quiet.

"What?!" James asked.

"The Quidditch field—look!" Albus commanded.

Not only had James jumped up to look out the window, but all the other Gryffindors had crowded around different windows, straining to see. James's face lost all its color.

"Holy hell…that's Rose!"

"No," replied Albus sarcastically.

"We've got to do something…but what?! I can't think under pressure!"

"Everyone!" Albus said, taking charge since his brother choked. "Grab your brooms and try to find at least one heavy object! It's time to teach those Slytherins a lesson!"

* * *

Scorpius could feel the blood rushing to his head as he dangled helplessly in the middle of the group of Slytherins, the girl he was deeply in love with about to be touched by all those sick, perverted Slytherins. Without his wand, all Scorpius could do was watch, wriggle around, and yell. 

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER! I'LL HEX YOU ALL TO HELL AND BACK! I'LL RIP YOUR NUT SACKS OFF AND THEN I'LL FEED THEM TO THE GIANT SQUID! ROSE! ROSE, GET UP AND RUN!"

But nobody was listening to him. They were all focused on Rose, who was too weak from the torture to move. Scorpius could feel hot tears of anger stinging his eyes. They rolled down his forehead and were absorbed into his hair. Detestation for every single boy in the Quidditch field filled his being as they were getting closer and closer to Rose. For a moment, Scorpius thought he was going to be sick, but suddenly, somebody from up above gave out a roar.

Scorpius twisted his body to look up and his mouth fell open. Fifty—perhaps sixty—Gryffindors, boys and girls alike, were flying over the Quidditch Pitch on broomsticks. Each person was carrying something—either a vase, a book, or a stone bust of a dead person—and as soon as they got close enough, they threw the objects at the unsuspecting Slytherins.

Some Gryffindors had missed their targets, but one third of the enemy went down immediately and didn't get up after being knocked unconscious.

James Potter flew by and yelled, "LIBERACORPUS!" Scorpius felt himself fall down to the ground with a loud thump, the wind temporarily knocked out of him. When he got up again, the scene in front of him surprised him.

All the Gryffindors were on the ground, fighting the Slytherins. Most of the Gryffindors were casting simple spells that wouldn't do permanent damage. A few Gryffindors had shouted "RICTUSEMPRA" which caused their victims to double over in a fit of giggles, obviously being tickled to death. Some had cast the Tongue-Tying Curse on the Slytherins so they couldn't speak properly to cast a spell. A few had managed to render their opponents defenseless by shouting "Expelliarmus" and they were now chasing the Slytherins, whacking them with their brooms. Scorpius's personal favorite was the spell that forced the victim's legs to dance uncontrollably.

Scorpius could see James casting the Jelly-Legs Jinx on a handful of bad guys and they stood uselessly in their spots. Albus had murmured "Aguamenti" and a huge jet of water sprayed out of the tip of his wand, which he used like a hose.

Hugo Weasley bravely rushed up to a few Slytherins and shouted, "Obscuro!" His victims were suddenly blinded by blindfolds that they couldn't remove. The Slytherins went running in random directions, their arms in front of them.

Lily Potter seemed good at casting the Bat-Bogey Hex—the Slytherins she hexed now had giant snot-bats chasing after them.

The Slytherins didn't take this all sitting down and they weren't casting nice spells against their enemies. The Slytherins had given the torture curse to several Gryffindors, who fell down promptly, the pain too much to bear. Some Slytherins were yelling "Furnunculus", which caused a number of painful boils to appear on some of the Gryffindors' faces.

Scorpius heard "Serpentsortia" being shouted and a number of snakes were slithering around, trying to bite the Gryffindors.

Albus must have inspired one Slytherin to use the elements as a weapon because there was now a stream of fire was coming out of the Slytherin's wand, much like a blow torch.

Scorpius suddenly looked around in the commotion for Rose. She was lying practically motionless on the ground. Hopping up, Scorpius darted toward Rose. He laced his way through the people running around and knelt down next to Rose.

She was deathly pale, as if all the blood had been drained out of her.

"Rose," Scorpius whispered as he threw his robe around Rose's bare body. He placed her head in his lap and looked desperately into her eyes. Tear drops from Scorpius's eyes fell onto her forehead. Rose blinked, as if just now comprehending that he was there then propped herself onto her elbows and put the robe on her body properly.

"Scorpius…what's happening?" she asked.

"All hell broke loose. But it doesn't matter. I just want to get you out of here."

"No…," Rose responded weakly, "I want to stay and fight."

"Not on your life," Scorpius said, helping Rose to her feet. "I thought something like this would happen—I just knew that they'd try to hurt you. I'm taking you back to the castle and we're going to get help from the professors."

Rose tried to protest again but Scorpius wouldn't hear of it. He draped his arm around her waist and helped her as she began walking.

"Leaving so soon? The party has just begun!" a voiced growled.

Rose was suddenly ripped from his arms. Henry and Richard Goyle had managed to escape the hexes and curses that were flying around and Richard held Rose once again, unharmed. Henry grasped Scorpius tightly. Michael, who had spoken to them, had a bloody nose and a bruised forehead.

"I'm going to finish what you couldn't. You clearly have no idea what Sectumsempra does…but I'm going to show you."

He pointed his wand at Rose, drool dripping from his mouth and his eyes wide. He looked like a wild animal.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Scorpius felt a surge of adrenaline run through his body as he elbowed Henry as hard as he could in the stomach. Henry let him go instantly and Scorpius darted forward. The whole world seemed to be in slow motion as Scorpius threw himself in front of Rose. The spell hit Scorpius, knocking him backward into Rose and Richard. All three fell to the ground. Scorpius could faintly see Richard abandoning Rose and he looked up into Rose's face. She was sitting up now, her pain forgotten. Rose was bawling as she hugged Scorpius's limp body to hers.

Before, Scorpius didn't know what Sectumsempra had done, but as he lay on the ground, his body felt as if it had been stabbed by a very large knife or a sword. It was quite unpleasant, but all Scorpius could think about was how glad he was that he hadn't cast this spell on Rose.

"WHY?" shrieked Rose, panic-stricken. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

Scorpius could barely put together the words she was saying but he put on a small smile and raised his hand to touch Rose's cheek. Rose reached out to touch his hand, her own hand covered in blood.

_His_ blood.

But Scorpius didn't care.

"I—"

Scorpius felt himself shudder and his hand fell from Rose's cheek to his stomach. He was unable to control his body now. There was a flash of light from the sky and somebody in the distance was shouting.

Then Scorpius slipped into unconsciousness.

The last thing he saw was Rose's beautiful, tear-stained face.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know...don't kill me because I'm evil. Or, Michael is evil rather. Anyway, sorry it took me so long to update...I've had to look up a buttload of curses today so I could try to make a decent war. I wanted this war to be a lesser version of the war in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Plus, I had a ton of running around to do today. And about the Quidditch Pitch...it's overused, I know, but I wanted to do the whole repeated theme thing. Rose was afraid of the Quidditch Pitch because of her dream, but she willingly went over there to see Scorpius practice and play Quidditch. Then they had their "date" in the Quidditch Pitch and now they had their war. It's nearly 2:15 in the morning and I'm wiped out. This chapter took the longest to write so I'm going to bed. Thank you for the kind reviews! Have a great day! 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me!:)

* * *

"NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" 

Rose sat on the ground, her whole body trembling as she held Scorpius's lifeless figure in her lap. She tried shaking him awake, but he wouldn't move. His head shifted back and forth limply as she shook him and his eyes remained closed.

And there was blood…so much blood…

"No! No! NO!" she cried again. "HE'S DEAD! YOU KILLED HIM! HOW COULD YOU?!"

She glanced at Michael sharply and she wobbled to her feet weakly, somehow finding the strength to stand up. Rose was only halfway aware that somebody was yelling something in the distance.

Michael gave her a sinister smile, his hands still on the wand that he used to injure Scorpius.

"Looks like it's just you and me now," he snarled. "So what do you say? You want to take me up on that offer?"

"What offer?" Rose spat angrily.

"You and me…we can be together now that Malfoy's out of the picture."

"I thought you said that I was filthy and Scorpius was a traitor for touching me!" Rose cried hysterically. Tears were rolling down her cheeks in a stream.

"I lied," Michael said casually, "I don't care about the fact that he touched you. That's understandable. But he actually _liked _you…he had _feelings _for you whereas I simply want your body."

He took a step forward and Rose was tempted to step back, but as she thought of all the events that had happened, she remained firmly in her spot.

"What do you say?" Michael asked.

Rose clenched her fists. "Go to hell."

Michael, who was relatively composed, suddenly looked livid. He thrust his wand directly at Rose's throat so that it was just barely touching her.

"Then you can join your friend. SECTUMSEM—"

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Michael was caught off guard as his wand was pulled from his hand by a seemingly invisible force. Both Rose and Michael turned toward the source of the spell.

It was Headmistress McGonagall.

She looked beside herself.

"MICHAEL BADDOCK! WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?"

Michael seemed surprised that he had been caught in an act of violence. Without warning, he turned on his heel and ran.

McGonagall's eyes widened, but she recovered quickly. She was accompanied by all the professors in Hogwarts who were running around wildly, trying to catch the Slytherins that were trying to escape. The Gryffindors remained in their spots, their hands up in surrender. Rose looked up at the sky and realized that the teachers had set of fireworks with their wands. They were all different colors and illuminated the sky perfectly so the teachers could see clearly to round up the juvenile delinquents. McGonagall, who was usually always collected, snarled and raced after Michael. She hastily leapt into the air and tackled Michael to the ground.

Michael thrashed about wildly but McGonagall held on tightly. If Rose weren't so heartbroken, she would have laughed at the sight of the old lady holding onto the portly boy.

She glanced once more around the field. Professors everywhere were locking the Slytherins' legs together using "Locomotor Mortis" and some professors were bringing back unconscious Gryffindors using "Rennervate". The Gryffindors that had been tortured were now floating in the air as if on invisible stretchers. Half the professors directed the tortured students inside the castle, obviously heading toward the Hospital Wing. The other half of the professors stayed behind and watched the Slytherins. Rose ignored them all and ran toward her boyfriend's body.

He just couldn't be dead.

"Rose?" boomed a voice near her. Rose looked and saw Hagrid, who had joined the group of teachers in rounding up the Slytherins. James, Albus, Hugo, and Lily were standing around him. Lily seemed to have injured her leg, but James was supporting her gently. The rest of them seemed thankfully unharmed. Rose hiccupped.

"H—Hagrid…Scorpius is—is—"

"He's not dead."

Rose looked toward Scorpius's body again. Professor Longbottom had leaned his head down toward Scorpius's chest.

"I hear a heartbeat, though very faintly. And he's breathing ever so slightly. But we've got to rush him to the Hospital Wing quickly."

Professor Longbottom muttered something and Scorpius was lifted in the air, perfectly parallel with the ground.

"I'm taking him to the castle. You need to go as well," he told Rose strictly. "Minerva told me everything—she saw the whole thing from her window. Hagrid will take you up."

Rose didn't argue as Hagrid's hands lifted her up and he carried her in his arms. Hagrid waited a moment so James, Lily, Hugo and Albus could follow behind.

"Oh God, Scorpius…," moaned Rose. He was out of sight now since Professor Longbottom practically ran all the way to the castle and Hagrid chose to take it easy with the walking.

Hugo, who was usually very quiet, reached up and grasped one of her hands. "Whatever happens, we're here for you, Rose," he said quietly.

Lily nodded and sniffed loudly while James and Albus looked uncharacteristically solemn.

Rose forced a small smile. "Thank you," she said simply. Rose didn't know that so many people cared—nearly half the Gryffindors in the school had risked their safety for her.

"Anything for you," James said in a small voice. "What? Did you honestly think that your only friends were me and Albus?"

James had hit the mark—that's exactly what Rose _had_ thought. She remembered the dream that she had first had about the Quidditch Pitch and how the voice inside her head had stated that she had no friends. But now she knew differently.

* * *

As soon as Hagrid set foot in the Hospital Wing, the assistant nurse, who was brand new to Hogwarts this year, took one look at the group and threw her hands in the air. 

"Another batch? For heaven's sake! Okay, who is injured?"

"Rose 'ere," Hagrid said, looking down at Rose.

"And my sister," James cut in, holding Lily protectively.

The nurse nodded, disappeared behind a door in the room then came back with two white cotton gowns. She tossed them at Rose and Lily, who caught the gowns.

"Put them on and find a bed. I'll be with you lot in a moment." She turned to leave but Rose cried out, stopping her.

"Wait! There was a boy that should have just gotten here…he was injured badly. You know, a pale boy with really blond hair and—"

"Oh yes," said the nurse gravely. "Mr. Malfoy…"

She turned toward the back of the room where the at least twenty beds were filled with injured people. The head nurse was casting spells left and right and most people were looking a whole lot better. But the furthest bed in the back seemed to be isolated from the others.

Scorpius lay on the bed, looking ash white. Rose bit her lip and practically jumped out of Hagrid's arms.

Still weak from being tortured, but motivated to move forward by Scorpius, Rose half ran towards Scorpius's bed, stopping every once in a while to grab the end of a bed for support.

The assistant nurse was protesting loudly behind her and the head nurse turned to her, frowning but Rose disregarded them and threw herself at the side of Scorpius's bed. She knelt down on the floor and grasped his hand, sobbing.

It looked as if the nurse had done her best to heal his wounds magically, but there was a large gash, a scar, in the middle of his chest where he had been hit by the spell. His robe and shirt were off—apparently the injuries were so severe, they had no time to change him. He lay down with his pants, socks, and shoes still on.

The head nurse rushed next to Rose and tried to pry her away from Scorpius.

"Sweetheart…there's nothing we can do but wait."

"I'm not leaving him! I'm not!" Rose yelled. She knew she must have looked like a baby or perhaps a six year old throwing a tantrum, but she didn't care.

"Come on, Rose," Albus said, joining the nurse in trying to move her. "You've just been tortured. You need to rest like all the other students…"

Rose couldn't bring herself to yell at Albus since he was one of the people who probably organized the rescue but she remained firmly in her spot.

The head nurse crossed her arms.

"If you change right now, I'll be sure to put an empty bed right next to Mr. Malfoy so you can be together…but you've got to be in a bed to rest."

Rose looked at the nurse tearfully but nodded. The nurse directed Lily and Rose to the dressing room where they both changed hastily then returned. As promised, the nurse had a bed next to Scorpius's bed. She had even slid the bed right next to his bed so that it was touching. Lily's bed was across from Rose's bed so that she could be by her family.

Hugo sat on a chair next to Rose's bed while Rose held Scorpius's hand.

"WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?" shouted a voice that Rose recognized instantly.

Rose's head snapped up and she saw her father march into the Hospital Wing with her mother at his heels. A group of parents came directly after them and they immediately scattered, moving to the bed where their sons or daughters were. Harry Potter was even there along with Rose's aunt, Ginny. They darted towards Lily's bed.

Ron and Hermione raced towards Rose.

"Rose!" cried Ron. He threw his arms around Rose and Hermione followed suit. They drew back and Rose saw that her father's face was pale with worry and Hermione was dabbing her eyes furiously with a handkerchief.

"McGonagall told us everything," Rose's mother said. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Rose lied. She looked toward Scorpius then back at her parents. "What's going to happen to the Slytherins?"

"Neville told us that they confiscated their wands and now they're doing Prior Incantato to see who did what spell. Those who performed the Unforgivable Curse will be sent to trial and may go to Azkaban. The others will most likely be expelled from Hogwarts. I hope that Baddock kid goes to Azkaban first," Ron said in a low voice.

Rose nodded but didn't have time to respond. There was commotion at the door and Rose and her family turned towards the noise. Draco Malfoy was talking wildly to the nurse.

"Where is he?" Draco demanded. "Where's my son? Is he going to be all right?"

The nurse quickly ushered him to the back of the room where his son's bed was. She found a chair and forced it under Draco, who looked as if he were going to faint. Scorpius's father scooted his chair as close to his son's bed as possible.

Rose could see that his eyes were bloodshot, probably from the effort of trying not to cry. But it was obvious that he was in emotional turmoil.

"Is he going to make it?" Draco asked, his voice shaking.

The nurse looked at Draco sadly. "If he had come a moment later, he could have died. But he came just in time. Still…it's not certain whether he will wake up."

Draco seemed to choke for a moment before throwing his arms around Scorpius's neck. He was weeping now, his composure forgotten.

"No…no, no, no…not my son," Draco said hoarsely.

There was silence between the Potters and Weasleys as Draco held his son.

"You should be proud, Mr. Malfoy," Albus finally said from his sister's bedside.

James nodded sadly. "He risked his own life to save Rose."

Mr. Malfoy looked up at Rose sadly and Rose had to swallow the lump in her throat in order to talk.

"That should have been me…it should have been me…"

Rose saw that her father was looking from Scorpius's unmoving body to Draco Malfoy who was still crying and Ron suddenly hugged his whole family—Hermione, Hugo, and Rose—tightly.

Still refusing to let go of Scorpius's hand, Rose sat up numbly and allowed her family to hold her. She was torn between feeling happy that her family was there and sad that Scorpius might not wake up when something unexpected happened.

Scorpius's hand twitched.

Rose took a sharp intake of breath and her family let go of her, confused. Even Mr. Malfoy had looked up. The Potters were all staring at her too.

But as Scorpius suddenly coughed and began to move his head slightly, everyone knew what was happening.

Scorpius opened his eyes sluggishly then sat up slowly. Mr. Malfoy was beside himself with joy. He hugged his son tightly, perhaps too tightly for someone who had just been cut open by an invisible sword.

"Father?" asked Scorpius slowly, not used to this kind of physical affection from his dad.

Mr. Malfoy pulled back and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I thought I had lost you."

Scorpius coughed again, then lay back against his pillow and smirked at his father.

"It takes a lot more than a spineless bastard like Baddock to get rid of me," he said feebly. Nevertheless, he reached out to hold his father's hand with the hand that wasn't being held by Rose. "You're turning into a sap."

Mr. Malfoy recomposed himself with the assurance that his son was going to be okay. "I am not a sap," he said defiantly.

Scorpius smiled and then turned to Rose. It was now Rose's turn to hug him tightly. Scorpius let go of his father's hand and wrapped himself around Rose.

"You're so stupid," Rose said against him. "Don't you _ever_ do something like that again! Why would you do that?"

Scorpius drew back. "I would have thought that it was obvious." He kissed her forehead lightly and whispered, "I love you."

Rose was crying, something she found that she had been doing a lot since she got involved with Scorpius, but this time she was crying with happiness.

"I love you too."

It felt good saying it. The first time when Scorpius had said that he was falling in love with her, she hadn't said anything—she was just happy to be back together with Scorpius at the time. But she knew that she had secretly fallen in love with him the moment she discovered that Scorpius had snuck a note into her book after pretending to be bullying her in the hall.

Rose's father cleared his throat loudly and got the attention of everyone in the group.

"Malfoy," he said to Draco, "your son…he saved my little girl's life." Ron struggled with himself for a second then smiled at Draco. "I would be glad to get to know your son a lot more. And it'd be nice to get to know you too."

Ron got up and offered his hand to Draco. Draco hesitated, but shook his hand, grinning.

Scorpius and Rose breathed a sigh of liberation—that was one less thing that they had to worry about.

"All right, you lot," said the nurse loudly to all the parents in the room, "I know you're worried about your children, but I want them to spend the rest of the night sleeping. Out, out, out!"

She shooed away all the parents, including Rose's parents, Scorpius's father, and even the Potters, who were quite popular around the wizarding world. All the adults protested at first, but then insisted that they would be helping outside with the Slytherins instead so that they wouldn't be far away.

"You too, Albus and James! Scoot!" the nurse demanded.

The Potter brothers rolled their eyes but obeyed reluctantly.

"Thank you guys," Rose said to her cousins before they left.

"Anytime," they said back to Rose. They nodded at Scorpius and exited the Hospital Wing.

Scorpius turned to Rose, who still couldn't believe that Scorpius was okay. She beamed at him.

"Don't leave me like that again," she said softly.

Scorpius shook his head. "I won't." He leaned down and gently brought his lips to hers then drew back and rested his head on the pillow, facing Rose.

Rose put her head on her pillow as well and closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted.

Before she had drifted off to sleep, she felt Scorpius slip his hand into hers.

She tightened her grip on his hand and gave in to sleep.

Instead of nightmares, Rose had dreams about Scorpius.

* * *

A/N: Worst case of writer's block EVER! But here's another chapter. I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I don't particularly dislike it, but I don't know if I'm satisfied with it either. So I may add an epilogue. But we'll see. Anyway, thank you to all the people who have read this story and a BIG thank you to the reviewers!

Mystere de tempete, xsmile4mex, DiamondOasis, SiLyKiRi, Chia89, aquamarineangel1, littlebitchywitchy, lshuntress, In Darkness Is Light, Innocent Innuendo, Sam Fisher's Wife, Donroth, Maraduernumber5, Twistysox, thefanwithashortattentionspan, kit-kat01

Sorry if I misspelled any names or left any out. I do appreciate all of you!

So I'll try to see if I can get out of this funky writer's block and get an epilogue up soon! Have a great!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters:(

**

* * *

Four months later…**

The afternoon sun stood in the center of the baby blue sky as a light wind blew the white, fluffy clouds through air. Petals from nearby flowers danced in the breeze, twirling around Scorpius and Rose as they walked through the area behind the Malfoy Manor.

A little grin graced Rose's face as she glanced around. Malfoy Manor was a big, beautiful place with an assortment of flowers of every color in every direction. Scorpius had said that Malfoy Manor was once a place that the Death Eaters had used as headquarters, but Rose could hardly believe that—the Manor was so beautiful and today there was activity everywhere.

Draco Malfoy had invited Rose, her mother and father, and the Potters to come over for the afternoon to eat and mingle. Draco had even invited all the Gryffindors on the Quidditch Team and all the professors at Hogwarts to come over as well.

As Rose looked out at the field in the distance, she could see a long table—at least fifty feet long—covered in more entrées than she had ever seen in her life. Blankets were spread out all over the field, covered with people eating from paper plates. Hugo and Lily sitting on a blanket, wrapped up in a game of Wizard's Chess. Some of the professors' children were watching two cousins compete while some children were gathered around Hagrid, who was throwing a stick and playing fetch with his drooling dog Fang.

Some of the professors had engaged in a Quidditch game, and to Rose's amusement, Scorpius's father and Rose's father were on opposing teams. McGonagall was refereeing.

Draco kept trying to throw the Quaffle into the goal, but Rose's father kept hitting the Quaffles back at him with the end of his broomstick.

"What was that _lovely_ chant you made up back when we were in school?" Ron asked sarcastically. "Oh yeah! 'Weasley cannot save a THING'!"

As Ron chanted the last word, he swung a Quaffle back at Draco Malfoy with such a force that several people had to duck and Draco nearly got pelted with the ball. It missed his head by mere inches.

"Now, was that really necessary, Weasley?!" Draco shouted, throwing another ball at Ron, this time out of irritation. Soon, the whole Quidditch game turned into a clash between Draco and Ron and the professors on the two fathers' team were trying to break it up.

Draco and Ron may have been friends now, but they still loved to have what they called 'friendly competitions'.

Rose's mother was talking excitedly to the House Elves who were serving the large group. The House Elves, all of whom were actually very nice, conversed with her happily. Rose's uncle and aunt were sitting underneath a tree, snuggling closely, which made Rose slightly nauseous, so she turned away quickly.

James and Albus and all their Quidditch friends were now chasing Filch through the field on their broomsticks, throwing dung bombs at him every once in a while.

Rose and Scorpius had escaped from the excitement long enough to take a stroll in a courtyard that had recently been built near the field. The courtyard reminded Rose of the fantasy courtyards in fairy tales. It was covered in stones and there was a bridge built over a tiny pond in the center of the courtyard. Flowers lined the courtyard and a few trees had been built around it as well. As Rose stood on the bridge, holding Scorpius's hand, she sighed cheerfully.

Five months ago, things had been much different between Rose and Scorpius. They had went from enemies to reluctant boyfriend and girlfriend then to both of them never wanting to leave each other's side again. And each day kept getting better and better between them.

"School starts next week," Scorpius said disappointedly.

Rose smiled. "I know! I'm so excited!"

Scorpius shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Only _you_ would be excited about another year of homework and endless hours of classes."

He smiled at Rose, but then frowned slightly, thinking. "Do you think next year will be as crazy as last year?"

Rose didn't have to ask what he meant—he was talking about the madness during the last month of school. Rose shrugged.

"I think everything happens for a reason...there are no coincidences in life. That nightmare I had about the Quidditch Pitch brought me to you and when Michael did what he did, he set off a chain reaction that allowed our fathers to get along."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Ron and Draco, who were still throwing the Quaffle back and forth at each other as hard as they could.

"Uhh…_sure_," Scorpius replied sarcastically.

Rose laughed softly. "You know what I mean. I just think that whatever happens, we can handle it."

Scorpius moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around Rose's waist.

"So, are you happy Rose?"

"What? Why do you ask?" she questioned playfully.

"I'm only happy if you're happy," Scorpius said softly.

Rose turned away from him for a moment to look at her family, friends, and Scorpius's family. Then she glanced at the diamond ring Scorpius had given Rose at the beginning of the summer. It glimmered on her ring finger in the sunlight.

She turned back to Scorpius and beamed up at him.

"I've never been happier."

Scorpius leaned in and pulled Rose closer as he kissed her with all the passion that he had.

Rose returned his passion, smiling slightly as she got lost in the emotions of the moment.

* * *

A/N: There ya go! I couldn't help myself. I was going to wait until tomorrow to make the epilogue but I knew that this story would plague me until I couldn't sleep. So I feel much better getting this off my chest. Well, this is the first fan fic that I've actually finished. Before I deleted my other stories, I read over them and realized that I only made a few chapters then quit. I have to tell you, it feels _good_ to complete a story. Anyway, thanks for the reviews everyone! I hope you enjoyed this! Have a nice day:) :) :)


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